


Multiple Second Chances

by Jarl_Deathwolf



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Guardian Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Identity Shenangians, Light Angst, Mouse Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), Snake Adrien Agreste | Aspik, Snekmouse - Freeform, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 25,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23424016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf
Summary: When something goes wrong with the miraculous of the main duo, they each choose a hero to take over for them while Marinette tries to make things right. Of course, with so many former heroes now compromised, they can't let old guardian rules drain their pool of heroes even more.A Snekmouse story.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 1325
Kudos: 1059
Collections: Adrinette April 2020





	1. Pranks

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my much anticipated (by me) Snekmouse story, Multiple Second Chances! This first chapter will be longer than most of the others since I have a lot to set up at the start, but expect most chapters to be around 1k words in length.
> 
> I hope you enjoy my contribution to Adrienette April!

“Hey, sugarcube!” Plagg said as he phased into the purse where Tikki was hiding.

“Plagg!” She hissed at him. “You aren’t supposed to be here! Go back to your chosen _right now_!”

“Yeah, yeah, in a minute,” Plagg said, irritably waving a paw at her as he peaked out. It quickly returned to clutching his prize.

“ _No_ not in a minute, right-” Tikki suddenly froze. “What are you holding?” Her voice became edged with panic. “ _What are you holding?_ ”

“What, this?” Plagg hefted the black orb he held. To a human eye, it would look like nothing more than a black pearl. But to a kwami? They could see the rolling clouds of crackling dark energy in it. “Just a little gift for a too-handsy little snake.”

“Get rid of it! That can cause some serious damage in the wrong hands!”

“Relax, sugarcube,” Plagg said, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t charge it _that_ much. Just enough for some bad luck and maybe some illnesses. Real ones, to go along with her many fake ones.” His ears twitched as he sensed a good opportunity to cross the room. The moment he tried, he was pulled back. He looked around to see Tikki grabbing at his orb.

“While I agree she isn’t good, this is too far! And you might endanger our chosen with this recklessness. Not to mention their identities!” 

“Then it's a good thing I wasn’t asking for your permission!” Plagg tugged at his pearl, but Tikki refused to let go. Being the ancient being of immense cosmic strength he was, he did what came naturally - he pulled back even harder. “Gimmie my ball!”

“No!”

“Spoilsport!”

“Instigator!”

As they each drew on more of their energy, the orb - fragile enough already - began to crack. White energy, no doubt Tikki’s doing, poured out.

The orb shattered, driving them into opposite corners of the purse.

“See what you-” Plagg coughed. “See what you did?”

“Me?! You- You’re the…” Tikki trailed off as she rubbed at her forehead, whimpering. “I don’t feel great…”

Plagg couldn’t reply, all his attention focused on gripping his stomach and trying not to be sick. Outside the purse, there was a commotion and Plagg slinked away into his chosen’s bag just before the class emptied. 

\-------------------

Adrien wasn’t entirely sure what happened, but after what had sounded like a small explosion, the room had filled with a horrible stench that had effectively canceled their Physics lessons for the day. And since that was his last class of the day, Adrien quickly found himself back in his room. 

“That was super weird.” Adrien set down his messenger bag and opened it. “Any idea what it could have been, Plagg?” His heart dropped when he found his kwami curled up into a ball, shivering. “Plagg!” He gently grabbed his kwami and held him in his palm. “What’s the matter?”

“Blegh…” Plagg opened an eye and looked at him. “I, uh, I won’t bore you with the details but you’d better transform. Ladybug will be looking for you.”

“Wh- Huh?” Adrien frowned. “Are you sure? Will you be alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, pigtails has a good head on her shoulders. She’ll know what to do.” Plagg gagged, his fur standing on end. “Or at least she’ll be able to figure it out with all those musty old Guardian books around.”

“If you say so… Plagg, claws out!”

Something immediately felt off. Besides being more than a little nauseous, he didn’t feel as strong as he usually did. But there was something that he couldn’t quite define that wasn’t right about this either. It was almost like there was something heavy in his gut, like a stone. Shaking it off, he got ready to leave. 

After locking his door and turning on a piano recording, Chat Noir slipped out of his bedroom window and began running over rooftops. Just like Plagg had said, it wasn’t long before Ladybug was calling him. He answered quickly.

“Hey bugaboo.” With Plagg’s health on the line, he got straight to the point. “My kwami said you might know what to do?”

Ladybug bit her lip, a sure sign of worry. “I do, but I don’t like it. We’ll talk about it in person. Meet me here.” 

Her face was replaced with a map of Paris, a blinking red dot showing her location. He raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t any of their usual haunts - the top of the Eiffel Tower, the spires of Notre Dame, any number of rooftops across the city. Instead, it was a garden filled with hedges. With how early into spring they were, they weren’t likely to see many civilians around, but still. He had a bad feeling about this, but followed her dot anyway. 

“M’lady,” he said with a bow as he landed beside her. “What’s the news?”

“Plagg is sick, right?” Chat blinked in surprise but nodded. “My kwami is too. This isn’t the first time she’s gotten sick but, well…” Ladybug began pacing. When she started talking it was like a dam breaking down and everything came flooding out at once. “Last time I had Master Fu, but now we don’t have Master Fu and he was _supposed_ to teach me everything but then, you know, and now he’s gone and I have his notes but I might be able to decipher them but I don’t know if I can do it and I-”

“My lady.” Chat caught her shoulders and stopped her in her tracks. “Take a breath, please. Okay? You can do this. If there is an answer to be found, you’re the one that can do it.”

To his surprise, Ladybug wrapped him in a hug. “Thanks, chaton.”

“No problem, bugaboo. Now,” he said, “is there anything else I can do to help? I want Plagg to be better as soon as possible. Plus, I don’t know how well I can fight feeling this weak.”

“About that…” She stepped away and pulled out an egg shaped item and opened it. Chat’s eyes widened as he saw all the miraculous ever seen fight alongside him. His wonder turned to dismay when he looked up to see sorrow in her eyes. “We’re going to have to take a break, kitty. Plagg and Tikki can’t get any better unless they get some rest.”

“You… want to take my miraculous?” A pit of dread opened up in his stomach. “But-”

“I know, and I’m sorry. But I promise it’s only temporary! I’ll even let you pick your… the person who will be filling in for you.”

“Okay…” That was something, at least. “So what miraculous would I be handing out?”

“I’ve actually given that some thought,” Ladybug said as she sat down. Chat followed her lead and watched as she sat the miracle box on the ground between them. “So the main issue to us taking a break is that we have to purify akuma, right?”

“Right. That’s why Master Fu brought out the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous in the first place, right?”

“Exactly! Now, I was doing some research and found out that the Yang-aligned zodiac miraculous can also purify corruption.”

“So…” Chat screwed his eyes shut as he struggled to remember his Chinese lessons. “Monkey, Tiger, Dog, Dragon, Horse, and… Rat?”

“Well, in our case the Mouse. Very good!” Ladybug smiled and Chat’s heart skipped a beat. “So those six miraculous could replace me. Well, mostly.”

“First, no one could _ever_ replace you,” Chat said firmly. “But what do you mean ‘mostly’?”

“Only the Ladybug has access to the Cure. Which is why I think this one,” Ladybug pulled out the Snake miraculous, “would be the perfect choice to pair with one of the others.”

“The Snake?”

“Yes. It’d be the best way to reduce collateral damage until we can get the Cure back. If worst comes to worst, I can transform, but we have to avoid it whenever possible so Tikki can recover.”

“Smart as usual, m’lady. Who do you plan on giving it to?”

“Chat,” she chided. “You know I can’t tell you that.” She clapped. “Now, I know I usually choose all the new heroes, but given the circumstances, I’ll let you pick the other.”

Chat perked up a little and looked very carefully at the six miraculous. He had never seen the Tiger or the Dog in action and ruled them out. Monkey? Helpful, but too random. Horse? Too situational. Dragon? Maybe. But then he saw the Mouse and remembered the last wielder of that miraculous. He grinned as he picked it from the rest.

Marinette would be perfect! She was smart, just like Ladybug so she could definitely help take the lead. Not to mention Multimouse made for an excellent hero. He wasn’t super certain on how viable that powerset would be, but knowing Marinette, she’d find a way to make it work. 

“The Mouse?” Ladybug said with a little confusion as he slipped the necklace into his pocket. “Not the one I was thinking you’d pick, but it’ll work just as well as the others.” She pulled the bracelet out and stashed it in her yoyo. “We’ll meet up tomorrow evening so you can give me your miraculous.”

Chat Noir smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Careful, you’re sounding like Hawkmoth.”

She rolled her eyes and gently punched his shoulder. “Go home, Chat.”

\----------------

Naturally, Chat Noir did not go home. After all, his mind was already made up on who he wanted to give the Mouse miraculous to. Pulling his civilian phone out of his pocket, he sent a text to Marinette and asked about homework. Once she responded, he knew she’d be home. Hopefully alone in her room. 

It took longer than he thought it would, but after a few minutes Marinette responded and Chat Noir went on the prowl. He couldn’t see much as he looked in from afar, but what he _could_ tell was that there wasn’t anyone else in her room as she paced it frantically. In a few heartbeats, he had crossed the distance and landed on her balcony. His cat ears twitched as he heard her talking to herself. 

He crouched down and knocked on her skylight and sat down while he waited. 

The trapdoor opened just a crack. Blue eyes peering up at him, first curiously, then in shock. 

“Chat Noir?!”

He bowed his head. “The one and only!”

“What- Why are you-”

“Can I come in?”

“I- Sure?”

Marinette opened the trapdoor completely and he slid inside, landing on the floor of her bedroom.

“So, um what can I-” Marinette was cut off when he pulled out the little box holding the miraculous. “No…”

“I, uh,” Chat Noir rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Sorry, I know Ladybug has a whole little speech, but I’ve never heard it in person.” A lie, but he wasn’t about to admit he had been so caught up in Ladybug’s eyes that he hadn’t committed her speech to memory. “I’m sure she told you it when you got picked to be Multimouse last time, but…”

“Chat, I _can’t_ be-”

“I know, you’re worried about the identity thing,” Chat said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It really wasn’t a big deal that I found out. I’m surprised Ladybug took your miraculous over it, but I know that you’re more than up to the task. You’re smart, you’re brave, and you made a great hero!”

She looked between him and the box. While she was clearly torn, it was also very clear that she had been touched by his praise. Slowly, she took the box from his hands.

“I… accept.”

“Good. Let me fill you in on everything that’s going down. Or, at least as much as I’m allowed to tell you.”

\-----------------

Several hours later, Adrien was back in his room, playing the piano for real this time. It wasn’t his usual arrangement, but rather a jaunty ragtime tune, the kind that he knew Plagg liked. His kwami was resting in his favorite trash can, the last time he’d do so for who knows how long. 

The prospect of not being a superhero weighed heavily on Adrien. What if he never got to become Chat Noir again, and he was shoved back into his regimented life with no hope of escape? What if Multimouse and his replacement were _too_ good and Ladybug decided that he didn’t need to come back?

He shook his head, pushing the thoughts away. Ladybug cared about him, she’d never just abandon him. And he had meant every word he’d said to her - he knew that if anyone could heal the kwami, it was her. 

But still the lingering fears remained…

At least until he heard a knock on his window. Framed against the dying light of the setting sun was Ladybug holding onto the string of her yoyo, face pressed close to the glass as she tried to look inside. His heart began beating a million kilometers an hour as he jumped up from his seat, nearly falling flat on his face as he rushed to open the window. 

“L-ladybug!” He said, poking his head out the window. “What, um, what are you doing here?” 

“I’m sorry to ask you this, given how awful your previous experience with this miraculous was, but…” Ladybug pulled out a black box with red markings and presented it to him. “Adrien Agreste, here is the miraculous of the Snake, which grants the power of Second Chance. You will use it for the greater good.”

“I accept!” He eagerly took the Snake miraculous. The excitement of being a hero became tinged with fear. “...Are you sure, though?” He frowned. “I kind of made a mess of it less time…”

Ladybug smiled warmly at Adrien. “It showed that you have determination. Not many people would be able to go that long trying to make things work. It also shows you are patient.” She took his free hand and set it over the miraculous. “Plus we both know how kind and caring you are. Perfect traits for a hero.”

“And what about Luka?”

“Hawkmoth knows his identity,” Ladybug said with a shrug. “Besides, I know you have the makings of an excellent hero. Now,” she said, moving past him to sit on the edge of his bed. “Let me tell you why we need you…”

\-------------

The following day came far too swiftly. After giving Plagg all the hugs the kwami would allow, Adrien had transformed to meet up with Ladybug. He must have looked like a mess since her blue eyes softened immediately when he landed, and in a moment her hand was cupping his cheek.

“I’m sorry, kitty. I know how much this all means to you, but I promise you’ll be back in the cat suit before long.”

He sniffled and put a hand over hers. “I’ll miss you.”

She got a thoughtful look in her eye and looked away. He let her hand slide off his face, where it took up position cupping her chin. 

“You know… we could still keep in contact.”

“How?”

“Master Fu had a dropbox that he prepaid a couple years in advance. We could leave letters there for each other, if we’re really missing each other.”

Chat perked up. “Really?”

“Mhm,” Ladybug hummed. She reached into her yoyo. “Here, you can have the spare key. It should have the location written on it.” She closed her eyes and turned around. “Detransform, hand me your miraculous and I’ll leave a letter when I’m done.”

“Right. Claws in.” Adrien gave one last sad look to Plagg before he took off the miraculous and he vanished. He pressed the ring into Ladybug’s hand. “See you soon, m’lady.”

“We’ll be back before you know it, chaton.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Adrien said. He ran away until he was out of the gardens before slipping on the Snake miraculous. In a ball of green light, a new kwami appeared. “Hey, Sass. Miss me?”


	2. #MarinetteChallenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For those unaware, the Marinette Challenge comes from the ML instagrams, where her friends take pictures of themselves with a sleeping Marinette.

Marinette walked into the classroom like a zombie, shuffling across the floor at a snail’s pace before collapsing into her spot next to Alya. 

Any hopes for a quick solution to Tikki and Plagg’s sickness had gone up in smoke after she had spent hours last night frantically combing through notes and books that Master Fu had left her. There was a lot more of it than she had first thought, with the book of the miraculous being just the tip of the iceberg. 

Would it have killed him to put everything into some kind of order? At least half her time had been spent just trying to figure out where all of her inherited knowledge was supposed to go. And then she had stayed up until the early morning looking through everything he’d translated already, desperately hoping he’d left some sort of note about kwami healing. 

Alas, she hadn’t even gotten through all of that before falling asleep for a meager two hours. Mullo managed to wake her up before her mom did, giving her time to put away all the suspicious notes, but that didn’t help with her bone-deep exhaustion right now.

“Girl, are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m-” Marinette interrupted herself by yawning. She continued in a mumble, “I’m fine. Just… just a little tired.” Another yawn. She set her head down. Class wouldn’t start for a few minutes anyway, she could at least rest her eyes for a little bit…

\-----------

Marinette woke up to Alya shaking her arm. She was vaguely aware of the rest of the class taking their seats, which made her frown in thought. Why would they be sitting back down? Marinette was the last one into the classroom. 

It all made sense when Alya showed her an instagram post on her phone.

“Really, guys?” Marinette said, a touch loudly as she glared at a picture of the entire class posed around her snoring form. Her heart beat a little faster when she noticed Adrien right beside her, holding the camera with his other arm around her. “Don’t you think this game is going a little too far?”

“No way! Not when I’m still in the lead at least,” Alix said. “Maybe once someone else gets close we can end it.”

“We’re not stopping until I beat that shrimp,” Kim said, staring right at Alix. As the rest of the class turned their attention to Kim and Alix’s newest argument, Alya patted Marinette on the back.

“Sorry, girl,” Alya said with a smile and a shrug. “But the Marinette Challenge is gonna keep going for as long as you keep falling asleep out in the wild.” She propped her chin up with her hand and lowered her voice. “So what _is_ keeping you up, hm?” Her eyes darted over to Adrien and she waggled her eyebrows. “Any plots or plans or projects I should know about?”

Marinette gently shoved Alya away. “No! I’m just… studying, is all.”

The fact that she wasn’t technically lying made Marinette feel a little better. Although Alya likely thought she meant physics homework or maybe English. Not the ancient Chinese texts and scrawled notes that she _had_ been pouring over. 

“Do you need some help?” 

Her eyes flew open and for a moment she was very awake as she turned to the source of the comment. Adrien had turned around in his seat, looking up at her with a warm, pleasant smile. 

“I, um… Well-”

“Sorry,” Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I wasn’t eavesdropping, I promise. I just heard you were up late studying and, well, I’ve got a lot of experience with that.” Adrien chuckled. 

Alya jumped in before Marinette could say anything. “She would _love_ that, Adrien.”

“Awesome! Maybe in a couple days? My schedule is kind of packed tomorrow. It’ll be hard to get away from that.”

“Y-yeah, sure! Great sounds!” 

Adrien smiled and turned around as class started. Marinette shot Alya an exasperated look - she didn’t have time for this when she had to do Guardian research! - but Alya simply mouthed _you’re welcome_ and turned her attention to Ms Bustier.


	3. Multimouse and Adrien

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien tries to get away from it all and finds himself closer to the one person he wanted more than anything to see.

There was a chill in the air as Adrien walked through the park alone. After an entire day of being shuttled from one thing to another, all he wanted was some time to himself that wasn’t spent stuffed into his room. 

His fingers toyed with the bracelet on his wrist. There wasn’t any one big thing that was different between being Chat Noir and being Aspik, but rather a bunch of little ones. It was like croissants made by completely different bakeries. The basic ingredients were all there, but there was something different about the spirit of it. 

Although Adrien had wanted to be alone, it was only when he noticed Multimouse looking at him from the top of a street light that what he really wanted was someone to talk to. He waved and to his relief, Multimouse waved back. She leapt from streetlight to streetlight until she was seated above him. 

“What, um, what are you doing out this late, Adri-” Her eyes widened adorably as she caught herself just in time, “um, citizen?”

He smiled to himself. Marinette almost sounded like Ladybug at the start of their superhero career - a little uncertain of herself, but just as kind.

“Oh, nothing,” Adrien said, taking a seat on a park bench. “Just going out for a walk without any bodyguards or personal assistants breathing down my neck.”

“Wh-what about just one bodyguard?” Multimouse jumped down and landed next to him. 

“I feel safer already,” Adrien replied with a smile. He gestured to the spot next to him. After a moment’s hesitation, she took it. She sat ramrod straight with her hands in her lap. The silence began to wear on him and he decided to act the part of a concerned citizen. “So… is it true what they say? It’ll be just you and Aspik for a while?”

“Oh! Um, yes. I don’t know for how long.”

The more Adrien thought about it, the more he realized there was potential in this situation. Maybe he could learn something. “So… you and Aspik. I hear you’ve gone on a couple patrols together already.”

“Yes…?” She tilted her head at him. Her tense posture was beginning to relax.

“I get that it’s early in your relationship, but… How do you like your partner?” Adrien felt a little bad using this one-sided reveal to his advantage, but he was just too curious to pass up the opportunity.

She turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised just for a second. A flicker of a smile passed over her face as she leaned back against the seat. “He’s a sweet guy. I can tell he’s very loyal and kind.” She got a mischievous look in her eye. “He likes to think he’s very funny too.”

“Is he?” The switch from cat puns to snake puns had been one of the hardest parts of this transition. He’d been worried his jokes were falling flat.

“Most of the time, but I can tell he’s trying very hard.” She grabbed her jump rope and idly pulled at it. “Sometimes I wonder how well he’s taking the extra responsibilities. It isn’t easy, being a hero.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about him. And trust me, I know a thing or two about responsibilities.”

Multimouse stopped fidgeting with her rope and fixed him with a frown. “...Is that why you snuck out of your house this late at night?”

Adrien swallowed. “I… well…” He wilted under Multimouse’s worried stare. “...A little.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“A half dozen extracurricular activities, the photoshoots, the academic stuff…” Adrien leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “It’s… a lot to deal with. Plus my father’s expectations are crazy high. Usually, it’s not that bad, but sometimes…”

“Sometimes it feels like you’re being crushed under the weight of it all?” He felt a gentle hand on his back and looked over to see a sympathetic smile. “If it makes you feel better, you’re not alone.”

“Is that a promise?” Adrien smirked at her, a touch of his Chat Noir persona coming through.

Multimouse blinked in surprise before returning his smile. She raised a hand. “Mouse’s honor.” A cold wind blew through, making Adrien shiver. “You should go home. 

“Right, right,” he said. They both stood up. Adrien was about to start walking away when she asked:

“Do... you need a lift?”

Before he could think it through, he replied, “Sure!”

She scooped him up in her arms and his face heated up. Thankfully he wasn’t alone - a blush had spread across her face too. 

“Hold on,” she said, giving him time to wrap his arms around her neck as she leaped onto the rooftops.

The journey only lasted a few minutes and before he knew it, she was gently setting Adrien down in his own room while she dangled outside by her jump rope. She was about to leave when Adrien stopped her.

“Multimouse?” She looked at him, blue eyes wide. “Thanks for talking with me. I’m glad you stopped by.”

“So am I,” she said, smiling warmly. 

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I’ll see you around?” 

“More than you might think, handsome boy,” she sighed. After a heartbeat, she seemed to realize what she said, if the shrinking of her pupils and the panicked ‘eep’ were anything to go by. Before he could reply, Multimouse vanished.

Adrien touched his chin in bemusement. Handsome boy?


	4. Hand Touches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien helps Marinette study.

“Marinette! You have a friend here to visit you!” 

“A friend?” Marinette said aloud. “Who was supposed to come over today?”

“Isn’t today the day that one boy was supposed to help you with your studying?” Mullo glanced over to the box hiding the Guardian books and giggled. “A shame they can’t help with what’s _actually_ taking up your time.”

“What, Adrien?” Marinette’s eyes widened and her hands flew to the sides of her head. “Oh no! Adrien!” She bolted to her feet and quickly ran around the room, taking down posters. “Mullo, I need you to-” When she turned around, Mullo had already sprung into action. “Thank you!” 

She had just gotten the last of them put neatly away when there was a knock on her trapdoor that nearly made her jump out of her skin. With one last glance to make sure she’d gotten all of them, she opened it and was immediately greeted with a sunny smile and vibrant green eyes.

“Hey, Marinette!” He entered her room, setting his bag on the floor next to her desk. “Sorry I just let myself up here. I figured since I’ve visited before it would be alright?” He looked at her for approval.

“Y-yeah, of course! You’re always welcome in my bedroom.” Her eyes widened. “FOR STUDYING!” She took a deep breath while Adrien waited patiently. “Right. Anyway… th-thanks for coming! Sorry I didn’t come meet you downstairs, I was just cleaning up a little. I, um… sort of forgot you were coming over today.”

“Don’t worry! I probably should have texted before I left anyway.” He took a seat at her desk and pulled out a few of his textbooks. “Are you ready to get started?”

It suddenly occurred to her that Adrien was going to be here at least for the next couple hours. Close at hand. Just the two of them. For a moment, Marinette wondered if this was life finally paying out on all that good karma she’d been building up from saving Paris all the time. 

“Definitely!”

\----------

“Wow, Marinette!” Adrien leaned back in his chair. “You’re a really fast learner.” He closed his eyes and stretched, and it took all of her willpower to keep her focus on his face. 

“Thanks! You’re a great teacher.” 

He beamed at that, but his smile gradually faded as he looked down at their completed homework. “...I guess it’s time for me to go home, huh?”

The conversation from yesterday entered her head. All that pressure, and so dissatisfied with home that he would sneak out just to go on a walk by himself.

“Well you don’t _have_ to go, right?” She pulled out a couple of controllers and sat them on her desk. “Maybe we could do a few rounds of Mecha Strike?”

Like the clouds parting before the sun, Adrien’s smile returned. “I’d love to! That is,” he continued with a teasing tone, “if you’re alright with losing a few rounds this time.”

Marinette smirked, her competitive spirit stoked. “Dream on, handsome boy.”

Her hands flew to her mouth, but the words had already escaped. She stared at Adrien who seemed shocked, but he quickly recovered with a laugh. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief - he hadn’t figured out her identity. She needed to be more careful.

“I’ll take that kind of banter any day. Ready for the first round?”

“Y-yeah…”

She reached out to grab her controller, only to bump hands with Adrien, which did nothing to help her get control of her wildly beating heart. They looked at each other, gave an awkward laugh, and both went for the other controller, bumping hands again.

Groaning, Marinette laid her head on the table and pushed them both toward Adrien. 

Once that was finally resolved, Marinette found herself slowly recovering from her embarrassment. Even if she could still feel his touch on her hand like an electric shock.

Thankfully, he didn’t notice her slip up. She chidded herself as she began racking up the wins. It might be a weird situation, but she needed to be more careful with her words. What if Adrien had discovered that she was actually his partner, Multimouse? That would have been a disaster!


	5. Statue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aspik and Multimouse talk about Chat Noir and Ladybug, who TOTALLY AREN'T THEM.

Patrolling as Aspik still felt weird and this time it wasn’t just because of the different miraculous. He had at least started to get used to _that._

No, what was weird was how he felt like he wasn’t even in the mask whenever he was with Multimouse. Maybe it was because he knew who she was and saw her everyday, but spending time with her didn’t feel as though he was Chat Noir on patrol with Ladybug. It felt like Adrien studying at Marinette’s house. 

Except it was even better, somehow. Getting to spend time with her when she wasn’t aware that he was Adrien felt liberating in a way. And maybe the mask had that effect on her too, since he was seeing more and more of those bursts of confidence that he’d always glimpsed from afar with her. 

Regardless, he landed on the rooftop where he was meeting Multimouse and smiled when he saw she was already there, looking out over the horizon as the sun set.

“Well, someone is looking like they are having a _mice_ day!” He smiled to himself as she jumped. She turned around in a huff and smacked his shoulder. 

“Don’t scare me like that, you sneaky snake!”

“Sorry, little mouse.” He bumped shoulders with her and was satisfied to see a very faint blush peek out from under her mask. “Ready for patrol?”

“As ready as I’m going to get. Park route this time?” 

“Sure. Let’s go!” 

Aspik jumped to the next building, Multimouse quickly falling into step beside him. When he had given her the Mouse miraculous, he’d expected to take the lead a lot more due to his greater experience as Chat Noir. But she’d surprised even his high expectations for her. It was like she was a natural, easily keeping pace with him. He’d have to ask Ladybug about bringing her in more often. 

His daydream about Ladybug and Multimouse becoming best friends paused when he realized that they’d come to a stop. Confusion only lasted a moment before he followed her eyes to the statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir that stood proudly in the middle of the park.

“You know,” he said, “I’ve met Ladybug a few times.”

“Oh?” There was a slight hitch in her voice, as if she was pretending to be less interested than she was. It didn’t surprise him - everybody in their right mind loved Ladybug. 

“Mhm. She’s every bit as amazing as people make her out to be.” He sighed happily. “Standing next to her, you can’t help but think that everything is going to turn out alright, no matter how bad things might look.”

Multimouse was quiet for a while. “I’m sure she’d love to hear you say that.”

“Oh, um.” He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. “I don’t- she probably doesn’t want me gushing like a fanboy at her.”

“You’d be surprised, I think.” Multimouse smiled. “Nothing to say about Chat, though?”

Aspik shrugged. “I never met him in person before.”

“Well, _I_ have, and he’s a great guy. Definitely the sort of person to keep you grounded and laughing even in the most scary situations. It’s hard to be afraid when someone is cracking puns right next to you.”

“I’ll be sure to try to live up to his example then,” he said.

The two of them shared a brief look before a blush spread across their faces. The rest of the patrol felt a little more subdued. Maybe he shouldn’t have sung Ladybug’s praises so much in front of Marinette. It was just reminding her just how hard it would be to match Ladybug’s example. 

He felt a pang in his heart. He needed to write to his partner soon. It was only because Marinette was so amazing that he’d managed to go even a week without writing Ladybug. 


	6. Aspik and Marinette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finds herself across the city from home after an akuma attack. Thankfully, a helpful snake is ready to help.

Moving as quickly yet as inconspicuously as she could, Marinette did her best to get away from ground zero of the recently ended akuma attack. There hadn’t been any serious damage, so there was no need to put on the earrings, but she had also ended up half the city away from where she was supposed to be. 

She just needed to keep her nose down and get out of here as quickly as she-

“Mari- I mean, citizen!” She looked up to see Aspik staring down at her. 

“Oh! Um, hi! Aspik, right? Of course it is, you and Multimouse have been all over the news.” She laughed nervously, jumping when Aspik landed right in front of her. “What, um, what are you doing here?”

Aspik paused. He tilted his head curiously and smirked at her. 

She smacked herself in the forehead. “The akuma. Obviously, Marinette.” She gave him an awkward smile. “Sorry, I’m a little scatterbrained.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He walked around her and she felt his eyes on her. “Are you hurt at all? That akuma was pretty intense.” 

Did she get some bruises Multimouse? Sure, it hadn’t been a fun akuma, that’s for sure. But Marinette shouldn’t even have been there in the first place. 

“N-no, I’m okay. I didn’t even see the akuma!”

“Hm… Well, you’re pretty far from home, right? Do you need a lift?”

Her heart melted even as it began to pound in her throat. He really was just the sweetest. She knew he would make a great fill in for Chat Noir and here he was, proving her right. 

“No, b-but thanks!” She said, forcing a smile. “I’ll be fine.”

She nearly squeaked when Aspik pulled her deeper into the shadows of a nearby alley. Before she could ask what he was doing, a reporter van sped past. Her shoulders sagged. Where there was one of them, there was going to be lots more. Between the now lasting damage of the akuma attacks and the brand new heroes, the journalists of Paris had been interviewing everyone they could get a hold of that was close to the akuma attacks. And Marinette was already running out of time…

“So,” Aspik said, drawing her attention back to his face with its teasing smirk. “Do you want to reconsider your decision?”

Maybe he was a better fill in for Chat Noir than she had expected, she considered with a roll of her eyes. He even got the light smugness down. She took a deep breath and looked up into his eyes. 

“...Yes, please.”

It was a good thing he already had a good hold on her when he put his arms around her because her legs became weak in the knees at his touch. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice.

Once she was above the streets, she let out a small gasp of surprise. Apparently she’d gotten even more off track than she thought. It would have taken her much longer than she had expected to get home. 

She felt as much as heard Aspik laugh goodnaturedly. “I know. The city is breathtaking, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah, right,” she said. She worried her lower lip. This track of discussion could easily lead to questions that could give hints about her being a superhero. Wanting to change the course of the conversation to help keep her cover, she said the first thing that came to mind. “So, uh, Multimouse.”

Her eyes screwed shut. Not the best topic she could come up with, but at least it was amusing to Aspik. He gives her a sly look that she doesn’t quite understand. Did he think she was jealous about herself for some reason?

“What about Multimouse, prin- uh, I mean… um…” His eyes went distant as he tried to come up with a nickname. “...Pigtails?”

If it weren’t for her own blushing breakdown, she might have raised an eyebrow at the situation. Instead, she babbled to fill the space. “Oh just what you thought of her, how well you two are getting along, that sort of thing…”

Despite herself, she listened with genuine curiosity. This was _Adrien_ talking about _her_ , after all. 

He seemed to give it some thought. “She’s very clever.” He glanced down at her and whispered as if sharing a secret. “If I had the Mouse, I wouldn’t be able to come up with half the stuff she does. I mean, that thing with the internet antennae and the traffic light - who even _thinks_ of that?”

She giggled. “It sounds like… y-you like her.”

“Of course! She’s amazing, I couldn’t have hoped for a better partner.”

“Wouldn’t you prefer having Ladybug by your side?”

She wasn’t sure why she asked. All three were the same person, after all. Maybe because there was a certain level of fame with Ladybug - it was easy for people to build up their own image of who Ladybug was and get attached to that over the real deal. 

“Well,” Aspik said at last, breaking Marinette out of her thoughts. “I think it would be better for Paris to have its heroes back. Especially Ladybug, with her cure. But,” he added, looking her in the eye. “I’m perfectly happy with who I’ve got now. I can’t think of anyone else I’d want by my side.” He looked up. “Oh! Looks like we’re back at your home.”

He gently set her down on her balcony and she held onto the railing for support. Her legs still felt like jelly from being held by _Adrien_ that whole way. His hand lingered over hers for a moment. She was surprised to see worry in his eyes when she summoned the courage to meet them.

“There isn’t a Ladybug cure for now, so just… be careful, okay?”

“R-right,” she mumbled back. 

He nodded and jumped away. Marinette dragged herself into her room, buried her face in her pillow, and screamed for joy.


	7. Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien sends a letter to Ladybug and receives one in return. In unrelated news, Adrien and Marinette bump into each other near Master Fu's dropbox.

Adrien had finally broken down after two weeks. He poured his heart onto paper and followed Ladybug’s instructions to find Master Fu’s box. It was the only way they could keep in contact with each other, which was both heartbreaking and frustrating to Adrien.

If the Guardians were effectively gone, and Master Fu along with them, what was really stopping them from revealing their identities to each other? Now more than ever they needed to be able to lean on one another. This whole sick-kwami situation just proved it. 

But even more important than that, Adrien was keenly aware of all the pressure it put on Ladybug. She had a rough time when it was just the two of them fighting akumas. Now she had to have all the Guardian stuff put on her plate too. His fists clenched at his sides as he scowled. He was all too aware of that sort of pressure and he was getting tired of feeling helpless when it came to the people he loved. 

Being so caught up in his thoughts, Adrien didn’t notice the other person until they’d already turned the corner and ran right into him. He hands shot up reflexively to catch them before they fell to the ground, which was about when he noticed who it was.

“Marinette!” Adrien’s eyes lit up. He held onto her arms as she steadied herself. She blinked up at him in confusion before blushing, which drew a smile from him. Surely after all the times she’d literally run into him, she’d stop being embarrassed about it, right? Accidents happen, even if they seemed to be drawn to her more often than not.

“A-adrien!” She squeaked out. “What are you doing here?!” Her eyes landed on the letter he was holding to her shoulder. “Are you sending that letter? To who?” She tapped her head with her palm disapprovingly. “No, that’s too personal. Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“No no, it’s fine.” He let her go with a chuckle. “You could say they’re something of a pen pal. We’re pretty good friends, but we haven’t been able to see each other much lately.”

“A-ah, okay.”

“What about you?” He asked. To his surprise, the question made her stiffen up.

“It’s, um, it’s funny. I was kind of… doing… the same?” She wrung her hands and looked up at him. “S-sorry, that sounds like I’m being sketchy, but it’s true!”

“Don’t worry, I believe you.” He stood there smiling at her for a few moments and her staring right back, looking awestruck. “So… I’ll see you at school on Monday?”

She jolted, as if woken up from a daydream. “Right! Yes. School. See you… see you then!”

Adrien watched as she ran out of the building and around the corner. One of the many things he liked about her was that life was never dull with her around. Shaking his head in amusement, he went back to what he came here to do.

The box was right where Ladybug said it would be. Adrien pulled out the key that Ladybug had given him and took a steadying breath. Did she hold out longer than him? Would he just find an empty locker? If so, how many letters would he end up leaving here before getting even one in return?

His heart unclenched when he opened the box to find a single letter laying in the box. There was no writing on the outside of it, just like he’d expected, but the faint smell of sugar and strawberries, so much like his lady, left no doubt as to who it came from. Taking the letter, he replaced it with his own before shutting the door and scurrying out of the building.

He didn’t dare pull it back out until he was safely at home, his door locked behind him. 

“What word doesss Ladybug sssend you?” Sass floated a respectable distance away. It felt strange to have a kwami that wasn’t lazing all over him, but somehow Adrien missed the constant contact.

“Let’s find out,” Adrien said, pulling open the letter.

_Dear Chaton_

Adrien held the letter close to his chest, smiling. Two words in and he was already feeling loads better. He sighed lovingly and started reading it again.

_Dear Chaton,_

_I’m still trying to decipher the writings, but I think I’m making some progress. I’m sorry I don’t have anything more to report, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m doing my best to get things back to normal. I’m looking forward to seeing you again, hopefully sometime soon._

_Yours truly,_

_Lady_

Always a professional. Didn’t say anything specific so no one could say definitively that this was Ladybug writing to Chat Noir. Was there anything not to love about her?

As he slipped her letter into a Chinese culture textbook, he hoped that she appreciated his letter just as much.

\-------------------

Just as the sun was setting, Marinette slipped out into the city as Multimouse to pay another visit to the building that held Master Fu’s storage box. Her heart beat more swiftly for just a moment as she passed by the spot where she collided with Adrien, but only for a moment. Another boy was on her mind as she opened the box. 

She wasn’t sure why she knew the letter would be here, but as Ladybug she had come to trust in her instincts. Even though she wasn’t wearing the spots right now, the lessons she’d learned remained. Sure enough, she wore a small smile as she saw a letter patiently waiting for her. 

That smile faded briefly as she touched the letter. There was a nagging suspicion that she had seen it somewhere before, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember where. Shaking her head, she clamped down on those thoughts, snagged the letter and headed home.

“What does it say, what does it say?!” Her kwami zipped eagerly around Marinette, trying to get a glimpse of the message that she hadn’t even opened yet. 

Marinette giggled. “Settle down and we can read it together, Mullo.”

_My Lady_

While Mullo cooed, Marinette rolled her eyes with a smile. Despite herself, she missed his terms of endearment. She continued reading.

_My Lady_

_I’d like to say that I’m taking the time off well, but I can’t. I’m missing you everyday and I can’t wait until we get to get together again. I know you are going to succeed no matter what, and I know you’re doing your best to help our buddies. Just don’t run yourself into the ground for my sake, okay?_

_Forever yours,_

_Chaton_

She read the message a few more times, always amazed at the endless support that her partner gave her. There was no doubt in her mind that she would have snapped from the pressure ages ago without him.

Tucking it under her mattress with a few Adrien photos for company, Marinette pulled out the Guardian book to take one last crack at a particularly difficult passage before heading to bed.


	8. Hair Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette follows Mullo's advice and takes a break from working on Guardian things to take a walk in the park, which turns out to not be a walk in the park.

“Ugh!”

Marinette pushed away the musty old tome and slammed her head onto her desk. Her head hurt thanks to a splitting headache and all she got out of it was a few translated scraps. Not even a little closer to finding that cure for Plagg and Tikki. At this rate, they’d have to just let the sickness ride out, but how long would that take? And how much damage would Paris take in the meantime?

“I suggest you take a break.”

“Are you serious?” Marinette looked at her kwami incredulously, but they seemed unfazed by it. “But what about Paris and-”

“None of them will be helped if you shatter yourselves to pieces,” Mullo said as they zoomed in circles around her. “You are doing noble work, but it is not a bad thing to rest and recover. It will only make you stronger in the long run.”

Marinette bunched up the fabric of her pants in her hands, clenching and unclenching her fists as she thought. “...Do you really think so? Just a little break to unwind?”

“Absolutely! Let your hair down, and leave your troubles at home for a couple hours. They’ll be right here when you are feeling more prepared to deal with them.”

“You know what? You’re right,” Marinette said as she stood up. After taking a moment to straighten out her clothes, she paused in front of the mirror, her hair ties in hand. She set them back down on the dresser. It’d be nice to feel the wind flow freely in her hair. 

After letting her parents know where she was headed, Marinette crossed the street to take a walk in the park. Spring had finally arrived in force and the flowers were already beginning to bloom among the green grass and leaves. She’d taken a sketchpad to do some drawing with, but failed to realize that an ideal time for drawing was also the ideal time for other artistic activities.

Like, for example, photography. 

“Come on, Adrien!” An Italian man was saying. “You’ve got to really imagine that hot plate of spaghetti! It's waiting just for you!” 

A gasp escaped her as she realized she wandered into a space of the gardens where another Agreste photoshoot was being held. The model in question was fighting down a yawn and losing. While the makeup team had done an excellent job concealing bags around his eyes and other visible signs of exhaustion, there was a way that he carried himself - the hunched shoulders, the dim light in his eyes - that betrayed his complete lack of energy. 

That changed when those eyes wandered over the photographer’s shoulder and landed on her. Immediately, the light brightened and he waved. She tentatively waved back.

The photographer saw the sudden change in his model and whirled around. She froze in place, her hand still raised as he bore down on her. 

“You!”

“Eep!” She winced at the sound that escaped her. Just for a moment her eyes flickered to Adrien, who seemed caught between sympathy and amusement. 

The photographer stopped in front of her, hands on his hips. “I need your help.” 

“M-me?”

“Yes! This one,” he gestured wildly behind himself, towards Adrien. “He is not doing so great. What we need is energy! A spark! Something a girl can help with, yes?”

Her eyes widened. “I- I don’t know if Adrien-”

“Nonsense!” He waved his hand dismissively. “I saw how he perked up when you got here. Must think you are cute, no? So you will help, yes?”

She looked at Adrien, who was now blushing red from his comments. “I… suppose?”

“Wonderful! Just like mama’s spaghetti.” Suddenly the photographer had his hand on Marinette’s shoulder, guiding her toward Adrien. “Let’s get started!”

The first pose was easy enough - the two of them sitting back to back, smiling at each other over their shoulders. Even so, she was feeling nervous. At least until he started whispering to her.

“Just remember the spaghetti and you’ll be fine.”

She glanced at him, startled and saw the mischief twinkling in his eyes, the grin just barely being held back. It was infectious and she couldn’t help giggling even as the camera snapped around her. 

“Yes, yes! That’s the way! Now stand up. Yes, just like that! Face each other. Adrien, my boy, can you pick up the girl and lift her in the air like a pizza pie?”

Adrien looked at Marinette with a little concern. “Are you okay with that?”

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I… just don’t drop me, okay? This pizza pie doesn’t want to become a dirt pie.”

That drew an honest laugh out of Adrien, which was music to her ears. A memory of rain and umbrellas and that angelic laugh hit her all at once, reminding her of how she fell for him in the first place. She was only drawn out of it by Adrien’s hands on her, lifting her into the air. The feeling of weightlessness was second only to surprise at strong Adrien actually was. She was acutely aware that he was fit, but she had no idea just _how_ fit.

The photographer moved swiftly and she didn’t spend more than a couple moments in the air, even if it felt like much, much longer. But eventually her feet did touch the ground again, her hand on Adrien’s shoulder for support as she landed. He was looking at her with amusement.

“Enjoy your flight, Marinette?”

She shot a playful glare at him even as her legs felt weak and gently punched his shoulder. “Hush, Mister Model.” He snickered at his new name.

“Very good, very good,” the photographer said. “I think just one more scene and we can wrap up for today!” He made a frame with his fingers and closed one eye. “But what should it be… hm…”

Marinette looked at Adrien, gesturing with her eyes and raising an eyebrow. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘you get used to it’.

The photographer snapped his fingers, drawing their attention back to him. “Aha! I’ve decided.” He put his hands on his hips triumphantly. “We will end on a kiss!”

A pit opened up in Marinette’s stomach. Adrien stepped forward, his arm held between Marinette and the photographer.

“Ignacio, don’t you think that’s going a little too far?” There was a hint of anger to his voice.

“Hm?” His eyes lit up in understanding. “Oh, no no no, my little raviolis. Not a kiss of passion and romance, no. Just a French greeting, a peck upon the cheek, yes?”

Once again, Adrien looked back at Marinette, concern in his eyes. He whispered to her, “Are you okay with that? Say no and we stop here, no questions asked.”

Ignacio cut in. “Well-”

Adrien whipped around and fixed Ignacio with a look, which was apparently enough for him to raise his hands in surrender.

Marinette swallowed heavily and forced the words out. “I… that should be f-fine.” 

“Eyy, the girl she says it is alright!” Ignacio clapped once. “Back to places everyone.”

Marinette clenched her hands and leaned in as he presented his cheek towards her. Her kiss was feather light, and it was something she’d done plenty of times before for friends and family, but this felt… different. For one, she didn’t feel like she was melting any of those times. Plus, those times didn’t feel like they stretched out into eternity.

But the moment did pass eventually, to the sound of a camera shutter clicking frantically. 

“Yes! Yes, this is wonderful! Amazing work, Adrien, this is the best we’ve gotten today.” Ignacio grinned at Marinette. “And thank you, my little helper. I will be sure to remember you in the future if I need another helping hand!” He winked and chuckled before packing up.

Marinette watched him for a minute before Adrien’s hands landed on her shoulders. His eyes were as bright as his smile while he spoke.

“I really appreciated this, Marinette. These photoshoots… well,” he dropped his voice to a whisper. “They can get pretty boring. And you probably saved me an hour or two of doing this.” His voice returned to its normal volume. “I really owe you one for this!”

“I’m just glad I could help! Sorry it got a little…” She blushed.

To her surprise, his cheeks turned a little red too. “D-don’t worry about it. Ignacio gets a little carried away sometimes. But, um… yeah. I owe you!”

He squeezed her shoulders once before letting go. Marinette stood there for a while after they had left. 

She should listen to Mullo more often.


	9. Alternate Timeline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aspik does his best to bring this akuma down in as few tries as possible.

“...And that’s what I found out,” Multimouse finished, out of breath and sweaty. An explosion sounded not far off. 

Aspik nodded. “I’ll fill you in then. Thanks, Marinette.” 

The look of surprise on her face whenever she heard him say her actual name never failed to bring a smile to his. He pushed back the counter on his miraculous and found himself nearly five minutes in the past. Multimouse was just about to head off for some scouting. He snagged her wrist before she left. Her mouth was pressed into a grim line.

“How many times?”

“The first. You just got back from scouting.” She nodded, untensing slightly and motioned for him to continue. “It’s just the one akuma, but they're tough and they'll be right here soon. They needs their hands free to send out fireworks and they have to have line of sight. You said stop, divide, and conquer, and to draw them out with me.”

Multimouse nodded, stroking her chin. “Hm… that sounds like a good idea. Let’s try it.” Concern was etched into her features. “Just be careful, okay?”

The akuma, who was a mime with power over fireworks, stalked through the streets not a minute later. Aspik took a step out into the streets.

“Hey, silent but deadly!” Aspik shouted at him. “Is your aim as bad as your smell?”

As far as insults went, it wasn’t going to win gold, but it got the akuma good and angry. Soon he was leading the quiet bomb thrower down the street, doing his best to dodge the screaming fireworks sent his way. 

The traffic light passed overhead and he waited a moment before shouting, “Now!”

He turned on his heel to help Multimouse, at the same time four smaller Multimice jumped out from hiding to rush the villain. Unfortunately, with just the one jump rope between them, he always managed to keep at least one hand free for long enough to keep them at bay. Growling, Aspik reset his miraculous.

\--------

“How many times?”

“Third attempt after your first scouting mission. Ambush didn’t work since only one Multimouse has jump rope. Rushing from all sides doesn’t work since he isn’t hurt by his own explosions. Charging just the two of us doesn’t work because…” 

Aspik swallowed, remembering Multimouse being knocked unconscious after taking a firework to the sternum. At least, he hoped that she was just knocked out. He hadn’t stayed long enough to find out.

“...Do you need to take a break?” She murmured, putting a hand on his cheek. 

“No, I-” He took a deep breath. “No, I found out something in the last try. There is a construction site close by with steel rope. If I have your rope and each Multimice has steel rope…”

“...Then we could drop it all on him at once, not giving him a chance to get even one shot off.” She grinned. “Great thinking, Aspik!”

“Thanks!” Her enthusiasm was infectious and he was smiling right back at her. While she rushed off to get the trap ready, he kept watch for the akuma. A minute later, just on time, the bomb throwing mime had appeared. 

“Hey, how ‘bout you quiet down? You’re causing a racket!”

Just like he’d expected, that sent the mime into a blind fury. He’d found that out the hard way last time. Maybe that was part of the reason they’d been akumatized in the first place? Who knew. All Aspik understood was now there was a frothing mad akuma on his tail.

Aspik easily dodged the bombs, knowing where they would land even before they’d been summoned by the akuma. The same traffic light passed by overhead and he waited exactly one and a half seconds before calling out for the Multimice.

“Now!”

A heavy metallic sound reached his ears and he turned out to see the mime with steel cables coiled around him. He smirked, satisfied with their work.

“Great job, Aspik!” One of the Multimice said as the others held down the akuma. “Do you want to do the honors of-”

An explosion sounded. Aspik looked around, wide eyed, to see that the akuma had managed to get one hand free long enough to wildly fling a firework. It had struck a building, causing some fire damage. He groaned.

“Sorry, Aspik,” the lead Multimice said with a wince. The akumatization dropped from the mime as a Multimouse shredded an ascot in her hands, a purple butterfly fluttering out in a panic. “One more go?”

Aspik sighed and nodded. He reached for his miraculous and slid it back.

\---------

“How many times?”

“Fourth after your scouting. Third time was the charm, but we could do better. I’ve got it this time. There’s a construction site with steel cables. If I have your jump rope…”

“...Then we could drop it all on him at once, not giving him a chance to get even one shot off.” She grinned. “Great thinking, Aspik!”

A weak smile made its way onto his lips despite his frustration. “Thanks, M.”

The battle went just like last time, except this time Aspik was already turning around when he shouted for the trap to be sprung. He reached the mime just a heartbeat after the rope went down. Roughly pulling off the ascot, he tore it in half with his bare hands, freeing the purple butterfly inside.

He tossed Multimouse’s rope back to the lead Multimice, who caught it while the others extracted the very confused civilian from the steel. She snared the butterfly with her jump rope, twirling it one-handed until it formed a glowing sphere around the butterfly. Once she stopped, a white butterfly fluttered away.

“You want to pull yourself together before we fist bump, little mouse?” Aspik grinned at his own joke while the gaggle of Multimice giggled. 

Three of them stepped toward the main mouse, who turned into a glowing figure and grew before returning to her normal size. 

“Pound it!” The both of them said at once. Aspik’s miraculous gave a warning beep.

“Catch you next time, M!” He waved at his partner before running off to detransform. 

He’d only just emerged from an alleyway, freshly back to being Adrien, when a voice called out to him from above.

“This isn’t a great place to be running away from your bodyguards, you know.”

Adrien looked up to see Multimouse watching him from the rooftop, legs dangling from the edge.

“Well,” he said with a smirk, “with you and Aspik running around, where else is safer?”

“Flatterer.” She jumped down. “Do you need a lift home?”

“Isn’t your…?” He glanced at her necklace, where three wedges still showed.

“I’ll be fine. At least good enough to get you away from the reporters.” She smiled softly. “Unless you want to give an impromptu interview…?”

Adrien swallowed. If his father saw him on TV, so far away from where he was _supposed_ to be…

“Yes, please,” he murmured. Not a moment later and he was being princess carried by Multimouse as she leapt back up to the rooftops and rushed him across the city. 

Maybe this was payback for him picking her up during the photoshoot? If so, it wasn’t much of a punishment, he reflected, feeling safe in her strong arms. 


	10. Charm Bracelet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Multimouse is bummed, but Aspik knows just how to cheer her up!

“Pound it!” 

Their fist bump wasn’t as enthusiastic as normal, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. Multimouse felt tired to her bones and she’d been going through the best timeline that Aspik could set up for her. She could only imagine the mental exhaustion that he had to be going through.

Looking around at the damage to her city, that was about the only reason that she didn’t ask that they do it all again.

What was the last count that Aspik had given her? Twenty three? Still a far cry from his debut as Aspik, but she would never again let him go that long if she could possibly help it. At least all the damage had just been in potholes and broken windows. 

“What’s up, M?” She looked back at the tired but kind eyes of her partner. 

“I’m just…” she gestured at the damage around them. It wasn’t nearly as bad as some powerful akumas she’d faced as Ladybug, but this stuff would have to be fixed by non-magical means, which made it hurt all the more. It was all up to her to get their kwami healed, after all. 

“I know, it’s not the best situation,” he said sympathetically. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry! I’m sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will be back soon. We’ve just got to do our best in the meantime.”

“I guess so…” She sighed. “See you on patrol tonight?” 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, little mouse.”

At least there was that to look forward to, she thought as she made her way home.

\------------

Later that night, Multimouse arrived at their rendezvous spot to find Aspik already waiting for her.

“Are you ready to-” She was cut off when Aspik held something out to her, a big grin on his face.

“Is that…?”

“It’s a charm bracelet!” He eagerly explained. “One of my friends taught me how to make them and, well...” he rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. “Well, I figured that we might not have a Lucky Charm, but we can at least have lucky bracelets, right?”

Slowly taking the bracelet from him, she looked it over carefully. There were blue and black beads, which she wasn’t sure was meant, in his eyes, to match with Multimouse or Ladybug. Between them were metal charms - horseshoes and four leaf clovers and rabbits feet - all the most stereotypical lucky charms she’d ever seen. In the middle of them all was a little cartoon mouse head. A warm smile spread across her face as her eyes went misty.

“Aspik…” 

He jolted, looking concerned when he saw her on the verge of tears. He seemed about to console her when she rushed forward to hug him. After a moment of surprise, he eagerly returned it. 

“Thank you,” she muttered into his chest. The scent of Adrien’s cologne reached her and her eyes flew open. Her face heated up as she pulled away. “Let’s, um… P-patrol!”

With how quickly she scrambled away, she didn’t notice how she left him standing there with very confused feelings and a great big blush.


	11. Video Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aspik stops by Marinette to play some games.

Another day, another fight with his father that ended up with Adrien being sent to his room. Once upon a time, that had been the most frustrating thing in the world for him. Sure he lived in a giant house, but he was confined to just one space. But that time was long gone, an unexpected upside to being one of Paris’s superheroes. Even though he wasn’t Chat Noir right now, being Aspik still gave him that freedom.

“Would you like to go out for sssome time, Adrien?” Sass said at his shoulder, his arms and legs patiently crossed. “I am eager to ssserve.”

Adrien nodded and said the transformation phrase.

It was late, long after the sun had set. Green may not have blended in with the night as well as black did, but it didn’t matter much to him. He almost wished that he was seen, just to have some civilians to distract him. Maybe hand out some autographs, make a few people smile. He had no real destination in mind.

Which is why he was all the more surprised when he ended up at a familiar landmark - the Dupain-Cheng bakery. He was about to turn away and continue his aimless patrol when a cold wind suddenly picked up. 

...Maybe she wouldn’t mind if he stopped in for just a couple minutes. After all, she seemed to like Aspik before.

He landed on her balcony, being careful to make some noise instead of defaulting to his sneaky ways. After all, he didn’t want to startle her. He noticed that she had left her skylight open and hesitantly poked his head in.

“Marinette?”

She jumped and looked wide eyed at him, frantically stuffing an old book into her desk while smiling panickedly at him. He could’ve sworn he saw what looked like some form of Chinese before it disappeared. There wasn’t much time to consider it before Marinette was clambering up the ladder to talk to him.

“A-aspik! What are you, um… doing here?”

“I was going for patrol and I ended up here.”

She frowned. “Patrol? But you don’t patrol today.”

There was a moment of silence between them. Then her eyes flew open wide again. She seemed about to say something else, but he chuckled.

“You caught me. I’m just out for a run is all.”

“..A run?”

“Yeah… Just feeling a little frustrated at home is all.” He forced a smile onto his face. “Don’t worry about it! I’m actually feeling a lot better now, so I’ll just head back and-”

“Wait!” She grabbed his wrist before he left. There was concern in her eyes that surprised him. She immediately floundered. Apparently even she was startled by her interjection. “I mean… you’re already here. We could play some video games if you don’t want to go home just yet.”

Aspik blinked in surprise before smiling. “I think I’d like that.”

\----------

“I would’ve liked it more if you’d at least let me win once in a while,” Aspik said, tossing his controller onto the desk with an exaggerated huff.

“If I did that, then you wouldn’t learn anything,” Marinette replied sweetly. A little tongue in cheek, she added, “After all, failure is the best teacher.”

“I suppose…”

“And you’ve failed a _lot_.” 

“Yes, I remember that.”

“I mean, I must’ve beaten you like twenty times.” She was grinning now. “Just absolutely devastating for you.”

“Shut up.” He fixed her with a glare, but it was undercut by him fighting down a smile at the same time.

“Imagine how much you’ve learned today! ‘Cause, like I said, failure is the best teacher and _gosh_ have you had a lot of it today.”

He finally broke down laughing, Marinette swiftly following him. 

“That sweetness is just a facade. Deep down, you’re so mean,” Aspik said, poking her in the side. 

Marinette simply stuck out her tongue at him. He stood up and stretched.

“Well, anyway, I need to head home now.”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Loads,” he said with a smile. “Thanks for this. I really needed it.”

“Anytime, Aspik.” 

And as he left her room into the cold of the night, he realized she really did mean it. Feeling particularly proud of his choice in partners, Aspik made a bee line for home.


	12. Piano Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Multimouse pays a visit to Adrien

The encounter with Aspik bothered Marinette for the next few days. Not because she didn’t enjoy her time with him - she really did! But there was something in his eyes, a lingering sadness and frustration. Playing video games with him was nice, but he shouldn’t have to be the one always reaching out. Of course, that wouldn’t do any good if Gabriel never let anyone in, so…

Marinette would have to get creative to make sure Adrien really was alright. And what better way to do that than with a visit from one of the local heroes, his own partner Multimouse?

At least, that was the plan. Actually arriving at his window and looking in was another matter entirely. As she sat there, dangling from her jump rope, she wondered if this was a bad idea after all. Her nerve was just about to run out on her when she picked up the soothing sound of a piano. She finally managed to get a glimpse inside.

Adrien had his back to her as he sat at the piano, coaxing a beautiful yet somber song out of the instrument. She would have been content to sit there for hours listening to him, but her eyes landed on Sass, who smirked and slithered away. The music stopped as Adrien noticed his kwami leave, prompting him to turn around. 

Her heart pounded in her chest as a look of surprise crossed his face. They sat staring at each other for a few breathless moments before Adrien jumped up and opened the window next to her.

“Multimouse! I, um, I wasn’t expecting you.” He held out a hand to help her in, which she gratefully took. “Is there something wrong?” His eyes widened. “Is there an akuma?!”

“Huh? No, no! I just-” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “This started all wrong. I wanted to stop by and see how you were doing.”

Adrien blinked at her. “Me? Why me?”

Multimouse opened her mouth. She closed her mouth. Somehow, that question had never come up in her mind. Maybe a little bit of the truth was in order?

“I was worried about you,” she said, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You did sneak away from home at least once. And I found you close to that akuma battle not too long ago.” She knew _why_ he was there, of course, but he didn’t know that. 

“Is that so?” Adrien smirked and leaned forward into her space. She looked up at him in surprise. “And are you sure it wasn’t just to visit a certain… what did you call me?” He cupped his chin, pretending to give it some thought. “Oh right! A certain ‘handsome boy’,” he finished with air quotes. 

Her face heated up and she sputtered, “N-no! Of course I didn’t- I mean not that you aren’t- but that’s not-!”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m just teasing you. I’m glad you came over. I was just practicing a song that I wrote. You can be my first audience!” 

Before she knew what was happening, he’d grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the piano, where he sat down on the piano stool. Scooting over to one side, he patted the spot next to him and smiled at her. Even with half of it to herself, there wasn’t a lot of space. They would be pretty snug on that stool. 

“I don’t bite, M,” he said warmly.

After she had sat down, he began playing the same song from earlier. It was sad, but sweet as she watched his hands dance across the keys. Somehow, the song felt very much like him, in a way that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. 

She clapped once he’d finished. “I bet you practice a lot, if you’re that good.”

“One of a lot of things my father insists on,” Adrien said with an empty smirk. 

“Well… at least you have the skill, right? I mean,” she added quickly, “I can’t even play a little, so you’ve definitely got an edge over me.”

Adrien frowned. “Well, let’s fix that. Here,” he said as he took her hand. Something like a jolt of electricity ran down her spine at the contact, but he seemed unaware of her inner panic as he guided her through a few keys. “See? That’s a little song. Now you try it by yourself.”

Glancing between Adrien and the keyboard, she tried to imitate what they just did. The tempo was a little off, but she managed it. 

“See?” He said proudly. “Now you’re on your way to being a real pianist.”

Multimouse giggled. “I think I’m pretty far away from that.”

“You’ve got to start somewhere,” Adrien replied with a shrug and a smile. 

The rest of their visit devolved into more little lessons and by the time Multimouse left an hour later, she thought she was getting the hang of the basics. One foot out the window, she glanced back at Adrien, looking far happier than when she’d seen him on her balcony a few days ago. It looked to her like both of them got something out of this visit. 

Maybe she should make it a more regular thing?


	13. Scarf Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien makes a discovery about his favorite scarf that leaves him with some pressing questions.

Adrien hummed to himself as he dug through his closet for something to wear. Spring was here for the most part, but today they were suffering through a cold snap. His usual favorite outfit just wasn’t going to cut it, especially if he wanted to slip away from his bodyguard later. It was good to keep his options open. 

After putting on a nice, warm jacket, he looked at his limited selection of scarves. There really wasn’t any consideration to be had. He had a clear favorite among them, and it wasn’t any of the Agreste brand ones. At least, not a publically available Agreste brand one. 

Maybe it would be good to wear it today, especially since he’d been fighting with his father off and on for the entire week. He began to wrap it around his neck. Not for the first time, he marvelled at how different it felt to the others made by his father. Or, more likely, made by the designers under him. It was much smoother, and a bright blue that his father didn’t often use. Purples, reds, sometimes greens - but never blues, oddly enough. Maybe he’d chosen that color to make this even more unique?

“What a fine garment, Adrien,” Sass murmured. “It wasss made by ssskillful handsss. Trussst me, I can tell.”

“Thanks!” Adrien smiled at his kwami. He still wasn’t very used to Sass and his overly formal manners, especially compared to Plagg’s… much more informal style. “That’s not too surprising. My father is one of the best in the business, after all.”

“Your… father?” Sass said with a fanged frown. 

“Yes…? Did you think it was someone else?”

“Of courssse. Otherwissse, I am unsssure why he would put sssomeone elssse’sss name on a gift crafted by a hand of hisss own.” 

“Wait, what?” 

Sass held up an end of the scarf. Sure enough, there was a pattern stitched in golden thread that he had assumed was just decoration. But when it held upside down like Sass was now, the graceful swirls turned into a name.

“Marinette…” Adrien said, half in confusion and half in awe. “Why would my father have gotten her to make this scarf? Unless…”

“Yesss…?”

“Unless he didn’t make it at all,” Adrien finished, collapsing onto his bed. He buried his face into his hands. “The only gift my father had made for me - heck the only one he had personally got me - and he didn’t even get it.”

“That may be ssso,” Sass replied. “But it isss ssstill a craft of love and affection, yesss? The sssource isss merely from another.”

Adrien considered this. “I guess you’re right…” He frowned. “But I told Marinette that my father had made this.” He turned to Sass. “Why wouldn’t she tell me she made it?”

“Perhaps ssshe isss not one to rob joy from othersss, when ssshe can help it.”

“Maybe… Only one way to find out, though.”

“If ssshe did not tell you once, what makesss you think ssshe will tell you now?”

“She might not be willing to tell Adrien…” he replied, pointing to himself, “but Aspik is someone else entirely.” He winked at Sass, who smiled dutifully at him. “At least, as far as she knows.”

“Of courssse. To her, the one known asss Assspik and the one known asss Adrien are two ssseparate people.”

Try as he might, for the rest of the day Adrien couldn’t figure out why Sass followed that with a knowing laugh.


	14. Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aspik heads over to Marinette's, intent on finding out about the scarf.

Marinette had expected that Aspik’s visit was going to be a one-off thing. What she didn’t expect was to see him on her balcony for the second time in one week, tapping on her skylight and pleading at her with wide eyes to be let in. 

Not that had any intentions of turning him away, of course. And not that she wasn’t happy to see him. But it was a little confusing, especially given the first thing he said to her once she’d opened the skylight, even before a greeting.

“Marinette! Say, if you made someone something, is there any reason you wouldn’t tell them it was from you? Just as a hypothetical.”

A lot of thoughts went through Marinette’s head all at once until something clicked. Suddenly she knew with absolutely clarity that he’d somehow figured out about the scarf. Then again, it had only been a matter of time - she’d at least signed the _scarf_ if not the package it had been sent in. 

“Oh, well, um…” She looked around in a panic and saw her laptop. “I’ll let you know if it happens!” Before he could respond, she asked, “Do you want to watch a few movies while you’re here?”

Maybe he realized that she was blatantly changing the subject and if he did, then she was eternally grateful when he shrugged anyway and said, “Sure! That sounds fun.” He smirked. “It’s almost like a movie date, huh?”

Marinette had sometimes thought about the phrase ‘cure is worse than the poison’, but the meaning suddenly made sense to her as she laid in bed, laptop in its rightful place on her lap, Aspik right at her side and barely any distance between them. All because she couldn’t stand to admit to Adrien that she had made his scarf and let him think his father had given it to him.

That decision had tormented Marinette, especially as she learned more and more about the man who had once been her idol. And now that she had seen first hand just how sad Adrien could get because of him? She almost wished she had never let that little lie go to begin with. 

Still, as Mullo had said, and just like Tikki had said before them, she couldn’t have known that back then. 

She was jolted from her thoughts by Aspik adjusting his position next to her, his head ending up just a little closer to hers. Was it because he was trying to get a better angle at the screen? Or was he subtly sneaking closer to her for another reason entirely?

Whatever it was, she could barely focus on the movie, nor the one after that. After three hours of her heart going crazy and Aspik slowly slinking closer and closer to her, he finally, mercifully, stretched and scooted a little bit away from her.

“Well, it’s been great hanging out with you, Marinette, but I’ve got to go.”

“Y-yeah, of course! I’m sure even superheroes need their beauty sleep.”

Aspik smiled and took her hand. He gave it a kiss and winked. “Good night, Marinette.”

Turned into a slowly reddening statue as she was, she was unable to respond. It would be several long minutes before she managed to do much of anything again.


	15. Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tough akuma battle has Aspik frustrated and angry.

“Aspik! I’ve found her, she’s over-” Multimouse’s voice cut out as the signal on his communicator suddenly ended. He threw his lyre to the ground in anger. Gritting his teeth, Aspik pulled back his miraculous and tried again.

\-------------

“We’ve got you this time!” Aspik said, triumphantly. He and Multimouse leapt forward, barreling towards the akuma. Not a moment after, a flash of pink energy streaked past him and slammed into his partner. Wide eyed, he watched as her new frame clattered to the ground, face frozen in a mask of surprise.

He pulled back his miraculous and tried again.

\------------

“Quick! Flank her!” Multimouse shouted as he ran up from behind. 

Caught between the two of them, a purple mask glowed to life around Still Life’s face. Just like always, she turned her attention to Multimouse, no matter how much Aspik wanted him to be the one under attack again. Maybe it was because Hawkmoth likely had no idea what the snake miraculous did. From his perspective, it had never actually been used before.

And, just like clockwork, Multimouse was enveloped in a pink glow, trapped in a painting of her likeness which immediately fell to the ground. 

“Now,” Still Life said, grinning maniacally, “once I’ve made an example of you two, Ladybug and Chat Noir will be forced to come out of hiding and face me!” 

“Not in this timeline,” Aspik muttered to himself as he reset one more time.

\-----------------

“...And I think that should-” Multimouse’s new plan suddenly cut off as Aspik put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Just… just give me a minute.” He slid to the ground with his back against the wall they were using to hide behind.

“Are you okay…?” Multimouse said, crouching down next to him. “Did the plan not work?”

“That plan,” he said, “and the plan after that one, and the one after that one, and after that one,” he rolled his wrist. “And so on.”

“It’s that bad, huh? What time are we on?”

“Uh… ten? Eleven? I’m not sure.”

“Do you want to take a break? Just spend this time as a breather?”

He nodded. “Yes, please.”

She sat down next to him. “So what’s going wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” He growled. “I have to watch you keep taking the hits for me! Because of this _stupid_ power, they don’t think I’m a threat, plus I have to be the one still standing to make everything right by the end.” 

“I’m sorry, Aspik,” she said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Maybe that’s why Ladybug chose you. It’s a lot like what she goes through and she must have known you were cut out for it.”

He furrowed his brow in concentration. “What do you mean, ‘that’s what she goes through’?”

“Well, she watches Chat sacrifice himself for her all the time, right?” She swallowed heavily, as if it was hard for her to say out loud. He vaguely remembered that she was a big Chat Noir fan. “And Ladybug has to be the one that gets to the end of the battle in one piece to make sure everything goes back to normal.”

“Oh…” While the thought had occurred to him before, this was the first time he’d given it a lot of thought, really considered what it felt like to go through it. Even if it gets reset or restored, there were still the memories. Like the nightmares he had for months after Desparada. Just because things ended up well didn’t mean it was a fun experience.

And here he was again. Piling up on the second chances and desperately trying to find the one path to success. It was still a far cry from his first outing as Aspik, but that started small too.

He stood, only to squint from the light hitting his eyes. Which caused him to frown in thought - what could be shining on him from inside an alley. When he found the source, some broken glass next to a dumpster, something clicked in his head. He told Multimouse his plan.

“Sounds like we could definitely stand to try something new. I’m willing to give it a shot.”

He gave Multimouse a tight hug. “That’s for talking with me, Marinette,” he whispered in her ear. 

“What- but- how?” She stammered in surprise, going beet red. “All this time?!”

He winked at her and pulled back his miraculous, resetting back five minutes.

\---------------

A few minutes later, and the plan worked. The beams, being light-based, reflected harmlessly off of the mirrors that they scrounge up. It was a challenge to close with her from there, but they made much better progress. Two more tries later to perfect the tactic and Still Life’s paint brush was stolen and smashed, the butterfly hiding within quickly purified. 

“Hopefully Ladybug sees that she’ll need to don the spots for a little bit…” Aspik said, frowning at the people still trapped in paintings. 

“I’m sure she will,” Multimouse said. She sighed. “I just hope her kwami can pull off a transformation…” She was about to jump away when Aspik cleared his throat.

“Pound it?” Aspik held out his fist. 

Multimouse gave a weak smile and bumped her fist against his. “Pound it.”

And then she was off, no doubt to head back to the bakery. Adrien was detransformed and back in his room by the time the ladybug swarm rushed around the city.

He took a deep breath to calm his anxieties, hoping that she was doing alright and that Plagg was recovering.


	16. Rejected Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Multimouse is feeling frustrated, but Aspik is there to cheer her up.

Multimouse sat alone on a rooftop, waiting for her partner to show up so they could start patrol. 

It had been another day of struggling to decode the secrets of the Guardian texts she had been left. She had managed some translations and attempted a couple cures, but nothing seemed to be working as well as she would have liked. About all she could say for sure is what had caused the sickness in the first place - an imbalance of positive and negative energy.

Sure, both of them needed a little of each other’s power to truly prosper, but being blasted with their opposing energy was messing up their own energy. Based on what she had read of previous times this had happened, she was just glad that it hadn’t impacted her Ladybug Cure. Especially since she’d had to use it a few times already.

At least she was making _some_ progress. What else could she do besides keep trying? Her heart sank as she considered all the time she’d already put into this. How much longer could it possibly take to figure this out? It hadn’t looked all that hard when Master Fu healed Tikki the last time, even if that had been a lot less serious of a sickness!

“Cheddar on the mind, little mouse?” 

She jolted, only to relax when Aspik sat down next to her. She smacked his arm. “You really are a sneaky snake. Do you wait around corners and jump out at people when they close their lockers too?” She raised an eyebrow, knowing full well that _yes_ he does do exactly that.

“Maybe, maybe not.” He bumped shoulders with her. “But you didn’t answer my question. What’s got you frowning, M?”

“I just…” She trailed off, knowing she couldn’t exactly say what was really on her mind. Sighing, she hugged her knees. “I guess I’m just struggling under the pressure, is all.” 

Aspik nodded. “I get that. Ladybug casts a pretty tall shadow.” She was about to say that he was more the one replacing Ladybug than her, given how the last akuma battle went, but he continued before she could. “While you only got the one chance to be Multimouse last time, you did amazingly. I’m honestly really surprised you hadn’t gotten your… _second chance_ before all this.” She giggled at his pun.

“Thanks, Aspik,” Multimouse said with a blush. “You’re not a half bad fill in for Chat Noir yourself.” She sighed and looked up at the inky blackness of the Parisian night sky. “Did you ever miss being Aspik?”

There was a long pause before he replied. “Sometimes, yeah. I love the freedom that comes with the suits, but…” He ran his thumb over the snakehead of his miraculous, which counted down the seconds while his power was active. “...but sometimes the responsibility is a little too scary for me,” he finished.

For a few minutes, they just sat together and looked at the sky. Then Aspik laughed.

“What?”

“Maybe we should start a rejected heroes club,” Aspik said. “All the people who can’t do the heroics anymore for whatever reason.”

“Then we’d have to invite Chloe.”

“And if we didn’t invite her?”

“Then we’d have to reveal our identities to each other.”

“Would that be so bad?” Aspik was looking at her now, searchingly. There was no clue what he was thinking. 

“...Maybe not. But,” she said, standing up, “it won’t be soon. We’ve still got a city to protect for now. We’re not rejected heroes yet!”

She leapt off the building and heard Aspik follow after her.


	17. Life Swap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien runs off again, and just like last time, a friendly face drops in to help him out.

Adrien wasn’t entirely sure where he wanted to go, so long as it was out somewhere with a lot of space to himself. Somewhere that didn’t feel confining, where he didn’t feel trapped. That place ended up being the park. Storm clouds were gathering, scaring away a lot of the usual park goers. Getting lost in the hedgerows, he found the seclusion he was after, plopped himself down on a park bench, and buried his head in his hands.

“Well, well,” came a voice from above Adrien, prompting him to crane his neck back to look up at the source. He saw Multimouse perched above him. “I didn’t think I’d see you here.” She jumped down to sit next to him on the park bench. “What’s up this time?”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s nothing, really. It certainly isn’t anything out of the usual.”

“That’s not exactly comforting, you know,” she said with a frown. “What made you feel the need to escape this time?”

“Well…” He considered not telling her for a moment, worried that he was just blowing this out of proportion. But then he looked into her sparkling blue eyes, wide with concern for him and waiting for any opportunity to help him. He ignored the way his heart was picking up tempo and cleared his throat. “It’s not a big deal. Nathalie was just going over my schedule, like she does at the start of every month.”

“Your schedule…?”

“Yeah, you know. All the stuff I’ll be doing this month.” He ran his fingers through his hair and let out a deep breath. “It was just… a lot. More photoshoots. More lessons and practices. Just… packed tight with all sorts of activities.”

“You felt overwhelmed,” she stated more than asked. 

“I guess so… I just felt so trapped. I had to get away.”

“I understand.” Her hand rubbed his back comfortingly and it was all he could do not to lean into the touch. “That’d be enough to make me anxious too. Did you tell them what you just told me? Or did you sneak out?”

“What would be the point in telling them? I don’t want to get into _another_ argument over it. Better to just let them do it and make it as painless as possible.”

He could feel her eyes on him, sympathetic and worried. They sat there for a while and the tension slowly began to uncoil from his chest. 

“What if you could leave it all behind?” She asked, suddenly breaking the silence. “Switch lives with someone, Barbie Princess and the Pauper style?”

Adrien gave a surprised laugh. “Why specifically _Barbie_ Princess and the Pauper?”

“Because its the best version of the story,” Multimouse replied without missing a beat. There was a twinkle of mischief in her eye. “Now answer the question.”

“Oh, no doubt. I’d love just a day or two of not being Adrien Agreste. Maybe even longer.” He smirked at her. “Why? Are you offering?”

She giggled. “I don’t think we look enough alike for that, mister model.”

“Oh I don’t know, I’ve been told that I look like a couple heroes of Paris.”

He froze, sucking in a breath. Had he overplayed his hand? Did he manage to reveal both of his identities in one stupid joke? No, she just rolled her eyes and laughed. His identities were safe, for now.

“Just curious,” she replied, but he could see the wheels turning in her mind. What did she have planned?

Unfortunately, he didn’t get any more hints since she changed the subject immediately afterwards. Half an hour later and she was carrying him back to his room, where his absence had unsurprisingly gone unnoticed.


	18. Pastries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finally calls in her favor from Adrien.

There are a lot of things Marinette could have cashed that favor in for. Given that she did technically work for the Agreste company as a model, she probably could’ve even cashed it in for actual cash. But she knew what she was going to use it for practically from the moment Adrien had said it. Their little conversation when she was in the mask only reinforced that it was a good idea.

Besides, no doubt Gabriel realized that letting Adrien spend a day making pastries at the bakery would be much cheaper on him than actually paying for Marinette’s labor. She really couldn’t care what Gabriel’s reasoning was. The only thing that mattered was that Adrien was here, in an apron, with her and her family. 

And best of all, he seemed to be having the time of his life.

“Marinette!” He said excitedly, a proud grin on his face. “Look at what I made!”

He practically shoved the plate of lumpy looking croissants under her nose. Leaning back a little, she caught a whiff of them. They might not look perfect, but they certainly smelled the part. He was catching on quick. Then again, he did have three good teachers to learn from. 

“Th-that’s awesome, Adrien!” She smiled back at him. To her immense relief, her stutter was almost completely gone around him these days. Maybe it was because they spent so much time together as superheroes, but seeing him relax a little certainly helped too. Whether it was because of a mask, or, like now, because he was far from prying eyes watching him for any slip ups. 

She took a lumpy croissant and he set the plate down on the counter before taking a seat beside her. Despite the whole couch being empty, he sat so close their legs were almost touching. Like always, he never seemed aware of just how close he got to people, a fact which often drove her heart crazy.

“Thanks for inviting me over. This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting you to use that favor on, but… I really do appreciate it.” He chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe the pressure I’ve been under lately.”

Marinette took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “Sorry it was such short notice. I just got this hunch that you might really need a break.”

“Is that so?” He said, a knowing smirk on his face. Narrowing his eyes, he playfully leaned forward, which really wasn’t helping her poor heart at all. “You aren’t _lying_ to me, are you...?”

A blush spread across her cheeks and she shoved him back by his chest. “N-no! Of course not. How else- How could I have possibly known?”

“Relax, I’m just teasing.” He put an arm around her, pulling her into a half-hug. “But your ‘intuition’ was definitely dead on.”

“Adrien!” Her papa called from the other room. “Son, are you about ready to make some baguettes?” 

“Definitely!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along. “C’mon, Marinette! It’ll be more fun with all of us together, right?”

Marinette had made plenty of baguettes in her lifetime, but she wasn’t about to say no to making some with him. Watching him interact with her parents, seeing how warmly they treated him… it was a sight she could get used to. And if it meant that he finally got even the smallest fraction of the love he deserved, then all the better.


	19. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette picks Adrien up when he is having doubts.

The rain was coming down heavy and cold, winter’s final send off before spring could begin in earnest. A send off which, supposedly, would last off and on for the next two weeks. 

Adrien felt like it was a good match to his mood as he watched it through the classroom window, well before everyone else had arrived. This time nothing had explicitly happened to bring him down. It was just… the steady march of time. How the days passed without him hearing from Ladybug. How it had now been three weeks since the last time he’d seen Plagg. And all that time, the weight of having to be the survivor, the one who _has_ to make it to the end of the battle to make everything right. It wasn’t any one thing that was doing him in, but all of it at once. 

The cloying doubts made their return too. If Hawkmoth hadn’t managed to snare everyone’s identities, would he still have been chosen? Was he chosen just because he was one of the only ones left? What made him worthy over everyone else?

“Adrien?”

He jumped, startled from his spiraling thoughts. He turned away from the window to see Marinette standing by the door, looking slightly damp from the pouring rain. She set her black umbrella against her desk. 

“Oh! Hey, Marinette,” he said, relaxing. He plastered on a smile. “How are you today?”

“Better than you, it looks like,” she slid into Nino’s spot. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” he said. Maybe a little too quickly, since her frown only deepened. She poked his cheeks. “What are you doing?”

“This smile is definitely fake.” She crossed her arms in front of her. “And don’t try to say it isn't, ‘cause I can tell.” She laid a tentative hand on his arm. “Seriously, though. Something’s up.”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. How could he explain it to Marinette without giving himself away?

“I just… I guess I’m feeling pretty inadequate right now.” He stopped when she snorted. “Is that funny?”

“Sorry, it’s just… you feeling not good enough. _You_!”

“What’s so funny about that?”

Marinette considered his words for a while, staring out the window. “You know, it was raining like this back then too.”

He turned around briefly to look out the window. “Back when what?”

“When I realized just how good of a person you are.” She said it with her eyes glued to the window, but he could tell from her tone and how her cheeks reddened that she meant every word. 

“O-oh?” He was paying rapt attention to her, but tried to play it cool. 

“It was when we first met. You were new, I didn’t know what to make of you. So when the first thing I saw you do was mess around with gum on my seat… I was afraid you were going to be Chloe 2.0.”

She glanced briefly at him, but her eyes quickly went back to looking out the window. Her blush deepened.

“I’m… I wasn’t very nice to you that day. And I’m sorry for that. But then, at the end of the day, after spending the whole time being petty to you, you saw me about to head home in the rain… And you offered me your umbrella, with an apology of your own.”

She finally looked back at him, clearly forcing herself to make eye contact.

“In that moment, I saw the exact kind of person you were.” She took a deep breath. “Kind, caring, and selfless.”

His heart pounded in his throat as he swallowed. “Marinette, I-”

It was at that moment most of the class arrived, startling the both of them. Marinette rushed back to her seat and while Adrien couldn’t say it now…

He really did appreciate everything she had said.


	20. Photoshoot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette gets an unexpected call.

Of all the things Marinette expected to wake up to, a phone call from Gabriel Agreste’s assistant, Nathalie, was not among them. She only barely remembered even putting her name into her phone. Was it during the preparations for the runway where her contest winning hat made its debut? 

“Um… hello?” Marinette answered. 

“Ms Dupain-Cheng,” Nathalie began without preamble or wasting time on unnecessary things like pleasantries. “Would you be willing to assist in another photoshoot? Our photographer on hand specifically asked for you by name. We are, of course, willing to compensate you for your time and the short notice.””

“I… okay?”

“Excellent. Our driver will be along shortly to pick you up.”

Nathalie hung up and Marinette blinked at her phone in stunned silence. Then she glanced down at herself, still wearing pajamas and looking as if she had just rolled out of bed. Which, admittedly, she had. She set to work making herself presentable while waiting for the driver.

“I thought you wanted to work on that one dress today?” Mullo said, floating upside toward her. 

“That _was_ the plan, but…” She sighed, pausing in the middle of brushing her hair. “Things changed.”

“You were really looking forward to finishing it.” Mullo tilted their head in curiosity. “Did you have that much fun the last time?”

“Well, yes, but that’s not why I’m going.”

“Huh?”

“Adrien was just so happy the last time I did this. And he’s having a pretty rough time too, with all that pressure and everything. It’ll be nice to give him some help.”

“He’s not the only one under pressure though. What about you?”

Marinette smiled. “It’s time with Adrien, in the fashion industry. It’s not exactly a chore, Mullo.”

Mullo giggled and did their best to help Marinette get ready. Help which mostly consisted of fetching make up and helping choose an outfit. 

The driver arriving ‘shortly’ in this case turned out to mean after fifteen minutes. Thankfully, Marinette was just getting finished. After telling her parents where she was headed, she slipped into the back of the limo. She caught the Gorilla’s eyes on her from the rear view mirror and gave him a bright smile. It might have just been her mind playing tricks on her, but she could almost imagine that his stoic mask weakened for just a moment and he gave a slight smile in return.

With the rain still coming down hard, she wasn’t surprised to learn that it was going to be an indoor photoshoot. After being dropped off at the front of the building, she rushed inside and was quickly greeted by an assistant who took her to the set up. 

The first one to notice her arrival was Adrien, but he couldn’t do much except look excited and wave at her, which prompted the photographer to angrily ask him to focus. She stood awkwardly off to the side while they finished up the current round of photos. Once that was done, more people began to pay attention to her.

It was hard to tell who was more excited for Marinette’s arrival - Adrien or Ignacio. Maybe it was just her being biased, but she liked to think that Adrien was the one more thrilled with her arrival. After all, he was the one who had run over to her as soon as the cameras stopped rolling. Once he got there, though, he didn’t really seem to know what to do with himself, leaving him standing next to her with a big grin. 

As for Ignacio, it was clear he was mostly just pleased to see Adrien come alive again. Despite it still being early morning, she got the sense that they’d been at it for quite a while already.

“Ah, this is wonderful,” Ignacio said with a smile as he approached. “I have high hopes for you, after what you did for us last time. Don’t let me down!” Ignacio laughed earnestly as he walked back to the cameras and began tearing down the scene. She still wasn’t sure what to make of him.

“Don’t let him get to you,” Adrien whispered to her as they took their seats in the back. “We’re all under a lot of pressure from father for the new spring fashion line and everything.”

“O-oh, okay,” Marinette said. “So… what are they doing now? Should we help?”

Adrien’s eyes flickered to where a swarm of people were hard at work in a chaotic swirl. “No, we should probably leave them to it. I’ve tried to help in the past and I usually just end up getting in the way. Besides,” he said, pulling out a book from his backpack, “this is our break time anyway.”

“What are you reading?”

“Chinese homework. I’m learning about Wuxing at the moment as part of the language lessons. It’s pretty interesting stuff.”

“Wuxing…” she said with a frown. It was sounding familiar but she couldn’t place her finger on where she’d heard it. Maybe her mom had mentioned it before? She had the feeling it had come up during feng shui.

“You know, the Chinese five elements. Wood, earth, metal, fire, water, plus yin and yang gets mixed in there.” Adrien froze for a moment and laughed nervously. “S-sorry, you probably already know about that stuff, right? 

“A little,” Marinette admitted. “Maman was born in France, so we’re a few steps removed from China at this point.”

“Oh! Well, its pretty cool,” he said shuffling closer to her, his book in his lap. He pointed at a wheel with five symbols and arrows between each moving clockwise. “See, the elements form a wheel and each element feeds into the next. But elements that aren’t next to each other have a destructive reaction towards each other.”

Now Marinette was absolutely sure she had heard all of this somewhere before, just said less clearly and in more archaic words. Her eyes flew open and her jaw dropped.

The Guardian book. 

She figured out how she was going to heal Tikki and Plagg!


	21. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bittersweet talk in the rain as Multimouse and Aspik come to grips with the idea that their partnership is almost over.

It was a dark and stormy night when Adrien finally got the chance to sneak out of his room and check Fu’s box again. With how busy his schedule had been, he hadn’t made it out here nearly as often as he would like. Although if he had the choice he likely would have made the trip every day, so maybe it was for the best. 

The door swung open after he unlocked it, his heart skipping a beat when he saw that there was a letter waiting for him. With a dopey grin, he swapped the letter for one of his own and began the trip back home. There wasn’t much to report, but it made him feel better to put his feelings onto paper. He could only hope that Ladybug took as much comfort out of reading them as he did writing them. 

Aspik landed in his room and dropped his transformation. Now no one was the wiser for his excursion. 

“What doesss the Guardian sssay to you, Adrien?”

“Let’s find out,” Adrien said, eagerly tearing open the envelope. He pulled out the letter and began reading.

_Dear Chaton,_

He melted a little inside. That never failed to lift his mood. 

_Dear Chaton,_

_I have amazing news! I finally made a breakthrough. I had to do some research with something called wuxing (I think you’re familiar? It has to do with the zodiac), but I think I’ve figured out a method that could work. If I do it right, our friends will be feeling better much sooner!_

_Yours truly,_

_Lady_

Adrien stared at the letter with an open mouth for several minutes before grinning. Finally! He was going to be fighting alongside his lady once again. Although he needed to write a letter letting her know just how awesome she was - from the sound of it, she could certainly use the pep talk. As he sat down to work on that, Sass appeared at his shoulder.

“It wasss a pleasssure working with you once again, Adrien,” Sass said with a bowed head. “You truly are a hero worthy of the Miraculousss.”

With a soft smile, Adrien put out his hand for Sass to land on. “And thank you, Sass, for being an excellent kwami. As much as I enjoy being Chat Noir, it has been wonderful being Aspik too.” Adrien’s eyes widened. “That reminds me! I have patrol tonight with…” Adrien trailed off, his smile frozen in place as a realization hit him.

“...With Multimoussse?”

“Yeah… Sorry,” Adrien said, shaking his head. “I just… It just hit me that me and Multimouse aren’t going to be a team for much longer.” He frowned and a sigh escaped his lips. “Well, let’s go meet her at least. Sass, Scales Slither!”

\-----------

Aspik arrived with plenty of time to spare, letting him listen to the sounds of the rain falling in the city while waiting for Multimouse to arrive. And eventually, she did. 

“Sorry I’m a little late,” she said, a grimace on her face. He smirked. Maybe she thought that being a superhero would break her lateness curse. But no, she was the same wonderful, clumsy girl in the suit and out of it. The smirk faded.

“Don’t worry about it,” Aspik said. “We probably won’t do much patrol in _that_.” He gestured at the rainstorm in front of him. “Want to just talk for a while?”

“Missing me already?” Multimouse replied, a teasing lilt in her voice.

“Maybe a little- wait.” Aspik tilted his head curiously. “How did _you_ know that Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous are going to be fixed soon?”

“Oh, um,” Multimouse said, wringing her hands. “I think it was Chat Noir who told me?”

Not as far as Aspik was aware. Maybe Ladybug had told her? 

“What about you? How did _you_ find out?”

“Me? Uh… Ladybug, I bet. Couldn’t really tell, but I’m sure it was her.” 

Multimouse seemed unconvinced but let it slide. “How do you feel about stepping down as a superhero?”

He leaned back, propping himself up with his elbows as his legs hung off the edge of the roof. “I… Well, we knew going in that we were only temps, right? And we got to be heroes for a lot longer than most of the other temps.” He looked at her. “What about you? You’re in the same boat as me.”

“Um… the same, I guess. It’ll be nice going back to normal, and it was cool while it lasted but…”

“Less danger in being a civilian?”

Multimouse giggled. “Yeah, that. Although it is nice to be able to fight back, right?”

“Right.”

They were quiet for a few moments as Aspik marshalled his feelings.

“Multimouse?”

“Hm?”

“It was great working with you.” He gave her his brightest smile. “You’re amazing, little mouse.”

A blush spread out from under her mask as her arms flailed around her head. After a long pause, she gave a soft smile back.

“You’re amazing too. I’m glad you were chosen to be my partner.”


	22. Outfit Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette puts into place her plan to heal the kwami. Adrien finds a novel way to hide his identity during an akuma attack.

“Are you sure about this, pigtails?” 

Plagg looked at her warily, floating above his miraculous that sat in the middle of a star pattern she’d made on the ground in her room. At each point of the star, she’d placed one miraculous. 

“Pretty sure, yeah!” Marinette looked over the book one last time before setting it down. “You embody destruction and you got yourself sick because you got a bunch of Tikki’s energy inside you.” She poked his gut and he groaned. “It’s sitting like a rock in there and you’re only slowly getting rid of it naturally since you and Tikki are equal in power.”

From her spot curled up in a tiny bed, Tikki let out a self satisfied noise. It was better than she’d managed for a while, so Marinette knew some slow progress was being made. But if that was all the progress the last month of rest had done… this had to work.

“Why’d sugarcube get hit harder anyway?” Plagg’s tail flicked uncertainly behind him, his ears flat against his face. Whether this was a sign of fear at the ritual or concern for his other half, Marinette wasn’t completely sure. 

“Well… it’s not that she got a bigger dose, its that you handle it better since destruction and chaos are what you’re made of. So you’re sick, but you’re not bedridden.”

“...Alright, I guess that makes sense.” Plagg gestured at the other miraculous. “What about them?”

Starting at the point closest to her, Marinette moved clockwise, activating each of the miraculous in turn and calling their kwami out into the world. 

“That’s the Ox miraculous, which represents earth. Rooster, metal. Pig, water. Wood, rabbit. And…” her finger lingered on the Bee miraculous. “Technically, this should be the Snake, which represents fire. That one’s being used and I can’t exactly ask Adrien for his miraculous without being Ladybug. According to the Guardian book, though, Pollen embodies energy, which should be close enough to fire to work.”

“‘Should be’?!”

“Well…” Marinette frowned. “This is the best chance we have of getting you back to Chat Noir. Unless you want to do this the long way around-”

Plagg’s eyes narrowed in determination and he crossed his arms in front of him. “Alright, alright, let’s do this. That hopeless cat is going to need me as soon as possible.”

“Okay, big guy,” Marinette smiled and scratched Plagg’s cheek affectionately. “Let’s see if this works…”

Marinette had made sure her parents were away and her door locked for good measure before she started. Once that was done, she focused her energy just like the text said and called on each of the yin kwamis names in the destruction order.

“Fluff. Stompp. Daizzi. Pollen. Orikko.”

After repeating this for a few minutes, an orb of shadow moved along the lines of the star. Once it had gained more definition, she willed it toward Plagg where it was sucked in like a black hole. 

“Yummy!” Plagg rubbed his belly and licked his lips. “That was almost as good as a wedge of camembert!” 

Marinette kneeled down on her knees to get closer to the hovering kwami. “How are you feeling?”

“Mmm…” Plagg stretched his appendages and took a few deep breaths. “Much better, but still kinda funky.”

“I figured,” Marinette said, nodding with her hand on her chin. “It’ll take a few times to break down Tikki’s energy inside you and get you back to full strength.” She looked over at Tikki. “Okay, before we do that, let’s get you some energy.” She gently scooped up her kwami, frowning. “Poor Tikki… I hate seeing you like this.”

“Don’t worry,” Tikki said weakly. “I know you’ll take care of that stinky cheese energy and I’ll be good as new soon enough.”

Marinette giggled and rearranged the ritual site. A star was replaced with a circle, and the miraculous were swapped out with different ones but the _positions_ of the miraculous were the same. Once everything was in place she began speaking the names of the yang miraculous.

“Roaar. Longg. Mullo. Kaalki. Xuppu.”

Just like last time, an orb appeared. Although this one was a bright white that radiated light, one that Marinette felt a connection to. Was it because of her ties to the Ladybug miraculous? Regardless, it moved along the circle, picking up speed and intensity as it went before Marinette willed it into Tikki. 

Stretching out, Tikki slowly floated up and off her bed, the first time she’d done so since getting sick. She nuzzled Marinette, who held her close to her face. 

“It worked! Now we just need to-”

A notification from the Ladyblog popped up on her phone. Curiosity changed to frustration when she read the big red text - “Akuma Alert!”

She shrugged helplessly at Tikki and Plagg. “Sorry guys. We’ll have to do this again soon.” After she put away the miraculous and hid the box, she transformed and went out to fight the akuma of the day.

\--------------

The akuma was, for some reason or another, rampaging at an Agreste set. Multimouse was keeping an eye out for Adrien to make sure he could get away and transform when she found someone else entirely.

“What are you doing here?!” She said as she carried someone in a banana suit away from some of the akuma’s mind controlled minions. 

“What are you-”

The voice sealed it for her, she could recognize it anywhere. No question this was Chat Noir, in civilian form. How he got caught up in this fight, she had no idea. But clearly he thought he could help so he put on the same suit he’d worn in his fight against Feast. Heck, she could even tell it was the same suit - it was worn and faded in the same places as her chaton’s. 

“I don’t have time to argue with you. Just… get out of here, okay? You can be a hero some other time.” Multimouse set the banana man down. “Get somewhere safe, and I better not catch you around here again!”

As Multimouse returned to the fight, a very confused Adrien ran into a closet. There wasn’t any time to take off the suit, but thankfully the transformation didn’t care what he was wearing and turned him into Aspik without problem. 

At least, without any immediate problems.


	23. Banana Suit Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *sighs*

It was a tough battle, but Aspik and Multimouse managed to bring them down. The set that he’d been modeling on just ten or twenty minutes ago was a complete ruin, but that didn’t bother him in the slightest. Maybe today he’d actually have some free time for once. He glanced over to where Multimouse was playing one handed jump rope with the akuma in the middle. Purple bled from the butterfly until it was sparkling white again. 

“You did a wonderful job as usual, little mouse,” Aspik said with a grin.

“Don’t downplay your own contribution, sneaky snake.” Multimouse smiled at him, causing his heart to skip a beat. She began to coil her jump rope back up. “You figured out that akuma really quickly. How many resets was it at the end? Six? Seven?”

“Five,” he replied proudly. 

“See? Awesome job.”

They shared a fist bump and both of their miraculous let out a shrill beep. They gave each other a quick nod - there was no more time for words. 

Aspik barely made it into an abandoned hallway before his transformation dropped. 

Well, that wasn’t completely true.

The hallway wasn’t abandoned.

At the opposite end, he saw Marinette standing stockstill. Any hopes that she might not have noticed him were dashed when he realized she was staring right at him as he reverted to his civilian form. He sucked in a breath, fearing that he might have compromised his identity, but a glimpse of yellow out of the corner of his eye reminded him that he was luckily still wearing his suit. 

Chuckling, he waved and ran away. 

That was a close one!

\-----------

Back in the hallway, Marinette stood still for a long time. 

Chat Noir was Bananoir.

Adrien was Aspik.

Aspik turned into Bananoir.

Adrien was… Chat Noir.


	24. Kwami Visits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette freaks out to the kwami.

“So…” Plagg began, staring at Marinette screaming into her pillow. “I take it she found out?”

“Looks like it,” Tikki said with a sigh. She side eyed Plagg. “You really should’ve emphasised to your chosen just how important it is to keep their identities safe.”

“Oh, please, sugarcube.” Plagg rolled his eyes. “Fu ain’t around any more and neither are his stupid rules that all but tied their hands behind their backs.”

“They aren’t stupid! They kept them safe!”

“Yeah, which leaves pigtails without any support and my kid completely in the dark most of the time,” Plagg snapped back. Tikki pressed her mouth into a thin line, but didn’t argue. “Besides, you should’ve seen how hopeless Adrien was with all his sighing about how great Ladybug was.” He stuck out his tongue in disgust.

“Oh, I think I can relate,” Tikki said, her eyes roving the room to see all the posters and pictures that adorned it. “But I guess its no use wondering what we should have done. Let’s-”

“Hey, M! Listen!” Mullo was floating over Marinette’s head. Something must have gotten through since she was no longer screeching, which definitely improved things. “You’ve got to pull yourself together and face this with one mind!”

“Mullo!” Tikki angrily whispered, rushing over to Marinette. “You can’t just-”

“They’ve got a point though,” Plagg said, lazily floating over to the others. “Freaking out isn’t gonna do anything. And honestly, it's about time it happened anyway.”

“Let her get it out of her system! She’ll be fine in a little bit.” Tikki turned her attention to her chosen, her fierce expression melting into one of concern. “I’m sorry you had to find out so suddenly, Marinette. Do you want to talk about it?”

Marinette removed the pillow from her face, staring up through her ceiling door to the darkening sky above. The kwamis watched with growing concern as the seconds dragged on. The screaming was almost preferable. 

“Adrien is Chat Noir,” Marinette said in a whisper. 

“Dead on, pigtails,” Plagg replied. Tikki glared at him.

“Think about it Marinette. Is it really that unbelievable?”

“I mean… it makes sense now that I think about it.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “They’re both super sweet… and funny…”

“And…?” Tikki prompted with a small smile.

Marinette buried her face in her hands. “...And really cute.”

“See?” Mullo said brightly. “Its all coming together-”

Her eyes widened and she bolted upright, sending the kwamis flying to get out of the way. “Chat Noir knows I’m Multimouse! Adrien knew I was Multimouse this whole time!” Her eyes narrowed and she puffed out her cheeks in anger. “That sneaky snake…”

“Didn’t you know Aspik was Adrien the whole time?” Plagg grinned. 

“That’s not what’s important!” 

Plagg cackled. “If you say so, pigtails. You’re just miffed cuz he was doing the same con you were.”

“...So what are you going to do next?” Mullo asked innocently. 

“I…” Marinette deflated, her brief righteous anger vanishing in a puff of smoke. “I don’t know. Do I tell him?” The question was directed at Tikki, who shrugged.

“You’re the Guardian now, Marinette. All this identity stuff is your call.” She hugged Marinette’s face. “You’ve done such a wonderful job so far, I’m more than happy to go with whatever you decide.”

“Thanks, Tikki.” She returned the hug with her hand and motioned for Plagg and Mullo to come over with her spare hand. “C’mon you guys, group hug!”

Mullo squeaked with joy and rushed to Marinette’s side. Plagg looked away, crossing his arms.

“Plagg…” She said in a singsong voice. “Don’t you want your hug?”

“No, I-”

“Just get over here you sticky sock,” Tikki said, rolling her eyes.

Begrudgingly, he slowly floated over to them. Despite his protests, he purred loudly when he joined the hug. 

Now Marinette just needed to decide how she was going to handle this situation…


	25. Cheek Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Multimouse gathers her courage and prepares to reveal all secrets between her and Aspik.

Multimouse did her best to steady her nerves as she met up with Aspik for patrol. The thought brought an ironic smile to her lips. After all, she’d been patrolling with Aspik, in some way or another, for a lot longer than she had believed. 

The idea that Adrien and Aspik and Chat Noir were all the same person was still really hard to wrap her head around. How they had both managed to pick each other to be their new partner was almost unbelievable, but it was like Tikki had been explaining to her. She was looking for someone as kind and brave and courteous as Chat Noir. Was it any wonder she just ended up picking him again?

Her smile faded as she remembered that she needed to tell him all of that. How was he going to react? Happy that Ladybug and Multimouse and Marinette were all the same person? Frustrated that they were always so close, but so far? Mad that she had done the same thing he had, and hidden that they knew each other’s identities? It was hard to say, but something in her gut told her that everything would work out just fine. Even if that same gut felt full of butterflies at the moment. 

She landed with a splash, grateful that the suits were water proof and at least a little resistance to the heat and cold. The rain still hadn’t let up, giving all of Paris a grey look. Aspik looked behind him, no doubt hearing her arrival and his face lit up like the sun. In fact, she could almost trick herself into thinking that there was a faint blush creeping out from under his mask. 

“Multimouse! Great timing.” He stretched out as he stood. “Ready for what might be one of our last patrols?”

“Y-yeah,” she said, her nerves feeling taunt and frayed. This was going to be an emotional conversation and _she_ hadn’t even fully pulled herself together from the revelation yet. There was a long moment as she stood there...

“Last one across Paris is a rotten egg!” Aspik said, a manic grin on his face.

...And then the moment was gone as he leapt off the roof, disappearing over the edge. She blinked, shocked for a moment. This wasn’t how this conversation was supposed to go! 

Naturally, she chased after him. Through the rain and across empty streets, always right on his tail. At some point, she realized it wasn’t so much a patrol as a game of tag. One which she was determined to win. All thoughts of confessions and reveals were pushed aside for just a few more minutes as she let herself fully sink into the game. 

It wasn’t Aspik or Chat Noir or Adrien anymore. She wasn’t Multimouse or Ladybug or Marinette. It was just her and him. No matter the masks they wore, no matter what they chose to call themselves. Chasing each other, having each other’s backs. Always.

An hour passed. Multimouse jumped just after they landed on another rooftop, like so many others in the city. She slammed into his back and they went rolling. Somehow she ended up on top of him. With a self satisfied smirk, she looked down at him.

“I win!”

Surprise turned to mirth, and she watched it all happen in the span of a few seconds. An honest, happy laugh bubbled out of him, reminded her of another time, another rainstorm. It also reminded her just _who_ she had pinned, prompting her to let out a strangled eep and roll off of him. 

He looked at her with a bemused smile as he propped himself up on his elbows. They shared a look, nothing but the sound of rain falling between them before he got to his feet and offered her a hand. She gladly took it and he pulled her up. To her surprise, he didn’t let go. Her eyes went to his face and she knew she wasn’t imagining it this time. A light blush, just creeping out from his mask. He was looking bashfully to the side, rubbing the back of his neck.

“S-sorry,” he said, letting go of her hand. “I guess… I guess I’m just feeling a little emotional about not patrolling with you anymore.”

A part of her wanted to tell him, let him know that they would be patrolling together for a long time to come yet, but she was rooted to the spot. Partially by curiosity and partially by hope.

“I… like to think we’ve grown really close over the last month of all this.” His eyes flickered to hers and she nodded, unable to form words. “I suppose what I’m trying to say is…”

He stepped closer, so close she could feel his heat over the chill of the rain. Multimouse’s heart was in her throat, pounding away at a frantic pace. He leaned down, pressed a feather light kiss to her cheek, which was lost to the pouring rain. While he was so close, he whispered near her ear.

“I’ll miss this time with you.”

Then he was backing away, as if he wanted to spend as much time looking at her as possible. He jumped away, no doubt heading back home, but that wasn’t what was on her mind at that moment. Truth be told, there wasn’t much on her mind at all. It was like white noise, stunned senseless by what had just happened.

She was shaken out of her reverie with a squeak of a sneeze. 

Deciding she ought to have her profound revelations in the comfort of her own home, she finally forced her legs to move. Wait until the kwamis hear about _this_!


	26. Sick Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Marinette out sick, its up to Adrien to make sure she doesn't fall behind.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re here, sweetie,” Sabine said as soon as Adrien stepped into the bakery. A few sets of eyes flickered his way, but most were preoccupied with the delicious pastries. “You’ve got Marinette’s homework?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Adrien replied, hefting his messenger bag. It was a little heavier for the couple extra books he was carrying, but it didn’t bother him in the slightest.

“Just Sabine is fine, dear,” she said with a smile. A customer approached the counter. “You know the way, yes? Just give a knock to let her know you’re here and head on up.”

“Okay, thank you!”

“Thank _you_ , sweetie.” Her smile turned more polite as she shifted her attention to the customer. “Is that all for you, sir?”

The noise and bustle of the bakery faded behind him as he closed the door, replaced instead by Tom’s happy humming as he baked. He noticed Adrien as he was passing by.

“Oh, Adrien! Good to see you, son. I just checked on her half an hour ago. She’s a little sleepy, but she should be awake. I’m sure seeing you will help brighten her day!” He chuckled to himself and Adrien mirrored him.

“I certainly hope so!”

Then it was up the stairs, taking them two at a time in his rush. He’d been a little disappointed when Marinette didn’t show up for school this morning. While he realized she probably wouldn’t be starry eyed over the kiss he gave her yesterday, it still would’ve been nice to see her when they were both outside the mask. When he found out she’d gotten sick, he had immediately felt awful. After all, he was the one that was leading their little chase.

Would she have been fine if they hadn’t spent so much time in the rain? Maybe. At the very least, he could help out by bringing her the homework they’d been assigned and walking her through what they did today.

His fist hesitated at the trapdoor to her room. Did he hear… voices? He listened more carefully, but he couldn’t be sure. While he knew that Marinette sometimes talked to herself, this was definitely not her voice and it sounded distinctly like two… maybe three different people. Neither Sabine nor Tom had mentioned that she had any guests and besides, Adrien had left school and immediately went to the bakery. Who could have beaten him there?

He knocked and just like he expected, the voices suddenly stopped. If he strained himself, he could almost hear some angry whispers before silence. Feeling suddenly unsure, he wavered at the threshold. Her parents _did_ say to just go in… and Marinette hadn’t said no. He pushed open the door and looked around.

It was about the same as it was usually, except the curtains were closed and the lights were off. The room was completely dark except for a spotlight from the skylight and the warm light from the bakery coming in behind him. A light which was extinguished when he closed the door behind him. 

That was when he saw it the first time.

A flash of green eyes as the light died. Oddly familiar eyes set against the blackness. His heart pounded in his chest as things clicked into place. Wild hope flared to life. 

“Plagg…? Is that you?”

There was no answer. Shrugging off his bag and mechanically dropping it onto the floor, Adrien approached where he had seen the eyes. There was a flutter of movement out of the corner of his eyes, a shadow in the darkness and he followed it without a second thought. He frowned after a few minutes passed and he didn’t see anything else. Had he just imagined it all?

He was just about to give up when he heard a dull thud behind him, startling him. Looking back, he saw the glint of something red and shiny. Adrien bit his lower lip, conflicted. Snooping around didn’t feel right, but he couldn’t deny that something about that object was calling to him. Getting closer, it looked like it had been hidden, but a sheet of fabric had fallen off of it somehow. 

As much as he knew it was wrong, he couldn’t help himself. He brushed aside the last bit of fabric, eyes widening as he saw what it really was, felt it for the first time with his bare hands. It was just over a month ago that he’d seen it, pulled the Mouse miraculous from it to give to Marinette.

Marinette…

Why did Marinette have the miracle box?

Adrien heard a yawn from above him and quickly covered the box before stealthily dashing back to the trapdoor and picking up his bag.

“Hello?” Adrien said, which prompted a strangled ‘eep’ from Marinette and her quickly turning on her bedside lamp, sitting up as she did so.

“What-?”

He held up the bag. “You missed class, so I’m here to help you study again!” He smiled as if his brain wasn’t exploding with the revelation that all his favorite girls were the same person. 

“Oh, um.” She interrupted herself with a big yawn and Adrien melted. She really was the cutest. “Thanks, Adrien. Want to get started then?”


	27. Naps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien talks with Plagg, making plans for how he'll confess to Marinette.

Adrien wasn’t sure how long they studied for, the closed curtains and pocketed phones making the minutes and hours blur together. What didn’t help was that he had apparently fallen asleep at some point. This realization came as he blearily raised his head, a couple of papers sticking to his face as he did so. While he was taking the papers off, Adrien heard a snickering to his left. 

And there he was. Sitting on the desk as if nothing had happened at all, like a month hadn’t passed, was Plagg.

Could he really be blamed if he quickly snatched his kwami up in his hand and held him close to his face in a hug?

“Plagg!”

“Yeah, yeah, spare me the mushy stuff, kid,” Plagg grumbled, but Adrien noted that he didn’t actually try to get away. In fact, it almost felt like…

“Are you _purring_?” Adrien said with a smile. “Aw, you really did miss me!”

Plagg rolled his eyes. “Of course I missed you. Pigtails does her best, but only you give me the best camembert and ear scritches.”

Adrien smiled as Plagg got free from his grip and settled into the crook of Adrien’s neck. It was just like how his kwami showed affection - not with words, but with his actions. 

Suddenly, Adrien’s eyes flew open wide. “Wait! Father is going to be so angry! He’ll never let me out of the house again! I-”

“Relax, kid. When he - or, more accurately, Nathalie - couldn’t get ahold of ya, they called the bakery. From what I overheard, they said something about you two studying super hard and asked him to let you stay over.” Plagg bumped his head up against Adrien’s chin. “It took some convincing, but Nathalie backed down eventually.”

“O-oh,” Adrien replied simply. He hadn’t expected that the Dupain-Chengs would fight for him like that. Suddenly, the bakery felt even more like home than it had been before. 

“So I bet you’ve figured it out by now?”

“Huh?” Adrien blinked, returning to the moment. “You mean about Marinette?” Adrien asked as he looked around, eventually spotting Marinette sprawled out on the chaise, cuddled up to a textbook. “I get she’s the Guardian, which means she must be my lady.”

Saying that while looking right at her serenely sleeping face suddenly made him very nervous. He’d always known Ladybug was amazing but… knowing she was Marinette only proved just how amazing she really was. 

“So what are you going to do now?” Plagg asked as he floated in front of Adrien, bright green eyes all but glowing in the dark. 

“I…” 

That was a great question. How exactly was he supposed to broach this topic? After all, he couldn’t just say, ‘hey, you’re Ladybug, I’m Chat Noir, wanna kiss?’ That was a good way to mess things up. He’d have to do something more subtle. The gears started turning in his head. 

“I’m not totally sure, but I think I’ve got a plan that just might work…”

Plagg gagged. “Oh no, you’ve got that romantic look in your eye that’s making me queasy again.” Adrien scooped him up with both hands, a look of concern on his face.

“For real, though. How are you feeling? You sounded in so much pain the last time I saw you…”

“Better, for sure. Pigtails is a clever one, no doubt about that. It took a little nudge from you, but she got there and we’re getting loads better everyday. Won’t be much longer now.”

“A nudge? From me?”

“Yeah, something about Wuxing or whatever. I wasn’t paying much attention.”

“Huh.” Adrien thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “Well, the first step in my plan is getting home. So, for now…”

Plagg quickly zoomed out of Adrien’s hands and bumped his head up against Adrien’s temple. “Stay safe, kid. We’ll be together again soon.”

“And do your best to get better Plagg. Don’t cause Marinette any trouble, okay?”

Plagg rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get outta here already.”

After gathering his things, Adrien went downstairs and called for a ride home. There were some things he’d need to get together before Marinette returned to school.


	28. Care Package

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette confess to each other in a roundabout way.

It wasn’t until a couple days later that Marinette finally went back into school. Alya had been very insistent that as soon as she knew she would be making a return that she would text her. At the time, Marinette’s had simply chalked it up to her friend being more worried than usual about her. 

But then she saw Adrien, seated in the front row, handsome as he could be in his blue scarf and wearing her charm bracelet, worn on the same wrist with his miraculous. With the expression on his face, it was clear that he was very nervous about something. What, she had no idea. After all, he didn’t have a photoshoot, fencing competition, or a test today. A conspicuous package sat on his desk, which he was drumming with his fingers. The beat came to a stop when he saw her hovering at the doorway. 

It was like a fog had lifted. His eyes brightened and a great smile spread across his face. He was already halfway to standing in before she could properly react. 

“Adrien?” She said cautiously.

In way of an answer, he shoved the package at her. She glanced from it to him, noticing how flushed he was, how he shifted his weight from one foot to another. When she didn’t take it immediately, worry crept into his face again.

“Can you take this? I… I don’t really know another way to do this.” He sighed gratefully when she took it, curiously poking it to try to figure out what was inside. It felt like a bunch of papers? “Just wait until you get home to open it, okay?”

“O...kay?”

At that point, other students started funneling in, and Marinette had to dodge questions about the package for the rest of the day, curiosity eating at her until she could rush home during lunch and tear into it.

“So it _was_ papers…” Marinette muttered to herself. Her jaw dropped as she started reading them, her face turning red. 

It was poetry.

Page after page after page of poetry. Beautiful, touching stuff too, stuff that she knew she would be treasuring for years to come. She’d always wondered if that one poem he’d tossed out was just a freak incident, but clearly not… And reading all this material, it was painfully obvious who the letters were intended for.

Ladybug. 

So why had Adrien given them to her? Her eyes widened. Did he somehow find out her identity? Clearly, but how?

Her eyes narrowed and she looked around until she spotted Plagg out of his miraculous, curled up into a ball in a sunbeam. He opened one eye when she blocked his light.

“What’s up, pigtails?”

“Did you-”

“Yeah, yeah. I decided to cut out the middle man instead of waiting for you to either muster up the nerve or mess up. Figured it’d be the best way to handle things.”

Marinette huffed and stamped her foot. “You can’t just-!”

“Already done,” Plagg said. He stretched out and yawned. “Messing with me doesn't solve anything. Which just leaves the kid. So what are you gonna do about him?”

Marinette stared at the kwami for a few long moments before breaking eye contact. Getting mad at Plagg for speeding things up wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Not while she had less than twenty minutes left before lunch break was over and she knew she couldn’t go back to class empty handed. Then again, she wasn’t sure she could say what she needed to say to his face either. Although she had definitely been getting better in being able to hold a conversation with him, she had a gut feeling this was going to bring it all back at once.

Her eyes widened as realization set in. Well, _Adrien_ certainly hadn’t confessed anything in person, had he? And if he didn’t, neither did she. With an idea forming, she spent most of her remaining break writing a note, making it as perfect as possible. Then she rushed downstairs and entered the bakery.

With a sly smile, Marinette began to stuff it full of the most delicious looking pastries she could, and made sure that she chose a box with a window. If he had the nerve to spring this on her at the start of the day, he’d get to suffer alongside her!

\---------

When Marinette returned to class with everyone else, she slid the box onto Adrien’s desk and watched his eyes light up when he saw all the fresh goods from the Dupain-Cheng bakery. He was about to reach for it when she tapped one finger on the box, drawing his attention back up to her.

She focused on keeping from stuttering and just getting the words out. “None for you until you get home.” She let an edge of Ladybug authority creep into her voice. “Understand?”

Pouting, Adrien nodded. Just as expected, Marinette got to watch as he yearned after the pastries that he could see but not touch for the entire rest of the school day. 

“Girl, what was that all about?” Alya asked as they got let out of class, watching Adrien bolt for the car waiting to take him home. He shouted an apology to Nino over his shoulder.

“I, um…” Marinette tried to think of something plausible. “It’s sort of a long story?”

Alya gave her a Look. “Uh huh. I’ll let it slide for now, but you better find a way to make it a heck of a lot shorter.” She waved as they split up. “See ya later, girl.”

Marinette had gotten back up to her room and just settled in to do some studying when she was startled by her phone ringing. The name on the caller id? None other than Adrien. She answered but didn’t even manage to get a greeting out when he cut in.

“Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do, Bugaboo.”


	29. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien finally put all the secrets behind them.

They’d been at it for hours now. Sometimes Adrien would have to get off the phone to do something or another, but always the moment he made it back to the room it was right back into the conversation. He’d been pacing the entire room during his long heart to heart video chat with Marinette and now he’d ended up laying down on his bed to rest his weary feet.

“You know,” Marinette said, tapping her chin. “That explains the whole Oblivio thing.”

“What do you- Oh, the kiss.” He glanced over at his computer, where a close up of it taken from the Ladyblog was turned into the wallpaper of one of his screens. 

“Uh huh. That always worried me. I’d been thinking what could have _possibly_ happened in there to make me forget about my… um… my crush on Adrien. On y-you.”

Adrien smiled patiently at her. “Turns out you didn’t.”

“Exactly! I just found out the whole truth.” She laughed drily. “If only we’d gotten to remember then… It would’ve made everything so much simpler. And we looked so happy…”

“Yeah… I’m glad Alya got that photo.”

“I wasn’t at the time, but now I am. Our first real kiss.”

“Second if you count Dark Cupid.”

“Still zero that we remember.”

“Very true.” Adrien waggled his eyebrows. “I think we’ll have to fix that soon.”

“St-stop that!”

“Stop what?”

“Using Adrien’s innocent face for your flirting, you tom cat.”

“But little bug,” he cooed, “it's _my_ innocent face.” Adrien suddenly remembered something. “Oh, that reminds me. How did you pull off that whole Kwami Buster thing? I for sure saw Multimouse and Ladybug standing next to each other.”

“You saw that, sure,” Marinette said with a sly smile. “But that’s not what was really there. It was all an illusion.”

“Well the Cure was definitely used, so does that mean you used both the Ladybug and Fox miraculous?”

Marinette scoffed. “No no no. I used _all_ of the miraculous.”

“ _What?!_ ”

After Marinette explained, Adrien whistled appreciatively. “All that just to throw me off the scent? I’m flattered, m’lady.”

“Well, it wasn’t _just_ to throw you off. I needed more kwamis to overwhelm Kwami Buster.”

“Still, the illusions were for my benefit.”

“I suppose.” Her eyes widened. “Wait. How did you throw me off? I was so sure you weren’t Adrien after that…”

“Oh, I just said a lie that made it seem like I didn’t know what kind of school Francoise Dupoint was and you believed me.”

Marinette groaned. “I can’t believe that’s all it took…”

“Aw, don’t be sad, Marinette! I’d never lie to you otherwise, and I’m glad you were so quick to believe me. It’s touching, to be honest.”

“Speaking about lies… What was that whole Desperada thing? You were Chat Noir - why didn’t you decline the Snake miraculous?”

“Well… you wanted Adrien, not Chat Noir. I didn’t want to disappoint you.” Adrien sighed, looking away from the phone. “But I did anyway… I’m sorry.”

“Oh, chaton… you could never disappoint me. You did your best, and did more than any one would have expected you to do. And in the end, the only reason you couldn’t pull it off was because I didn’t have my partner at my side.”

He gave her a weak smile. “Thanks, bugaboo.” 

There was a long pause before either of them spoke again. It was Marinette who broke the silence. “...So we both really knew this entire time, huh?”

“...Yeah.” Adrien felt his face heat up and glanced at Marinette to see she was looking embarrassed too. He snickered. “We’re both kind of a mess, aren’t we?”

“You aren’t wrong,” she said, shaking her head. “At least we’re hot messes, right?”

That pulled a surprised laugh out of Adrien. “Right as usual!” He sighed contently. “Still, it’s pretty exciting, right?”

“What is?”

“That we picked each other. After everything, we found each other again and again.”

“O-oh, right. Yeah it’s… it's pretty awesome.”

“...Do you think it means anything?” He asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. She must have figured him out though since she just smirked.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Maybe we should talk about it over some ice cream?”

“My lady,” Adrien said slowly. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

Her eyes widened in shock, her mask of confidence falling away. “I- n-no! Not necessarily, I mean it could be if you want it to be I mean-” She took a deep breath. “Let’s just start with talking, okay? And see where it goes from there.”

Adrien stared at her, a smile slowly growing across his face as he did. Now that he’d finally found her, he had all the patience in the world. It didn’t matter how fast or slow they took it to him, so long as they were moving together. Just like always. 

“I’d love to.”


	30. Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien go out for ice cream, meeting together for the first time in person with no secrets between them.

After two weeks of rainy days, the sun finally made a lasting appearance on the day of…

Marinette frowned. What could she call it? It wasn’t _exactly_ a date, right? Adrien had just been teasing when he’d said that. The entire point of this… this _outing_ was to talk things through and figure out where they stand now. Finding out they knew their identities this whole time _and_ finding out that their partners were closer than they thought as well… it was a lot to take in. 

Maybe they’d date at some point, but not today. Today was just the two of them spending some time together with no secrets between them. 

It wasn’t hard to find Adrien in his hoodie and sunglasses, well disguised to everyone that didn’t know him. One of the many things that gave it away was the nonchalant whistling. A smile tugged at her lips. He really was getting good at escaping his handlers these days. So good, in fact, that she wondered if maybe miraculous help was involved. 

His whistling came to a stop when he noticed that she had found him. He practically jumped off the park bench to rush over to her. Once there, he didn’t seem to know what to do with himself except stand close to her. Maybe a little too close for people who were just friends. But after all their miraculous adventures, they were a bit more than that, weren’t they?

He fell into step beside her as they started to walk through the park.

“So this is step one of our ice cream… um, outing?” She asked, feeling lame. 

“Y-yeah. Nino told me there was a good place around here that we could go to.”

Naturally, at that moment, they rounded a corner and discovered an ice cream cart. But not just any ice cream cart. 

Andre the Magic Ice Cream Man’s cart.

For a long second, they stood completely shocked at finding the notoriously elusive cart without even trying. The spell was broken, however, when Andre looked up in confusion, almost as if he smelled them. His eyes landed on the two of them and lit up. 

“Ah! Hello,” Andre said, waving them over. “I feel a powerful bond between the two of you. Please, please - have some ice cream from me!”

After exchanging a look with Adrien, his shocked expression shifted into a smirk. 

“I’m not one to ignore destiny, love bug,” Adrien said as he walked towards the cart. 

Marinette giggled and followed after him. They watched Andre at work and received their ice cream. To their surprise, he refused Adrien’s money.

“This is a gift from Andre to you, to thank you for bringing such powerful love to my humble cart today.” He waved at them as he picked up and left, leaving the two of them waving awkwardly after him. 

A short walk later and they found themselves at a park table, ready to dig into their ice cream. Which is around when they really noticed the flavors they had been given. 

Marinette gawked at a very familiar looking peach scoop with a lime green one on top. Her attention shifted to Adrien who, sure enough, was staring stupefied at an ice cream that was red, indigo, and light blue. He pried his eyes away from them toward Marinette. They both giggled. 

“Maybe this was secretly a date after all,” Marinette said after they managed to get ahold of themselves again. 

Grinning, Adrien held up his hands in mock surrender. “You got me. This was all part of my cunning plan to get you to fall for me.”

“Sneaky snake,” she said with a smirk. “Oh! I almost forgot.” She reached into her purse and pulled out two boxes, offering one to Adrien. 

After a moment of looking at it curiously, Adrien’s eyes flew open and he eagerly took the box. He pulled a silver ring out of it.

“We’re back, chaton.” She reached across the table and took his hand. “And we’re stronger than ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And that ends Multiple Second Chances. Thank you for reading this Snekmouse story! It was a fun challenge to work with. I'm glad that I finally go to tell the Snekmouse story I've been itching to tell ever since Kwami Buster and Desperada aired.
> 
> Friendly reminder that I am participating in all the love square months and I'll be celebrating my birthday tomorrow by posting the first chapter of my Marichat May fic! I hope to see you there. Although I understand perfectly if you want to wait until the fic is finished before reading the whole thing.
> 
> In any case, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this fic and will check out some of the others I've written.


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